The Space Between
by Faded Galaxia
Summary: An exchange student comes to Chloe Gates' high school. Her best friend, Mimi Tachikawa, knows him very well. How will they get along? And why do strange things start happening once he comes? IzzyxOC  Izzy needs some love!
1. Prologue

**A/N: Soooo I've been rewriting this story since I was in the 6****th**** grade.**

**I'm soon to be a junior in college.**

**YEAH.**

**Well, I hope it turns out to your liking. I've been a fan of Digimon for a long time (I still watch it!), so I think this will be fun to finally get down. Thanks to everyone who has liked and reviewed my other stories; I really appreciate it. It makes me want to write. **

**I've always been a huuuuge fan of Izzy, and have always thought that he needed more love on . So, that's what this story is for! GIVE IZZY SOME LOVE!**

**Disclaimer: I don't own Digimon. Wish I did, but, unfortunately, I do not.**

**Prologue**

Senior year. The big one. The year that, according to the teachers and the guidance counselors, decides your future. Where every path you take may just affect what paths will be available later. Just yesterday, it seemed like you were 5 years old, running around in some God-awful maroon overalls in your backyard, and here you are: faced with the reality of being an adult. I always thought I would be happy - relieved even - when I reached this point.

Turns out, I'm not happy at all. Turns out, it totally sucks.

"This is our last year together." My best friend Mimi was lying right beside me. We were on her bedroom floor, staring up at the glow-in-the-dark stars she had stuck to her ceiling. It's been our tradition since the day before our sophomore year to spend the last day of summer together, ending it by staring at her makeshift night sky.

"Don't say that, Chloe," she said, rolling over on her side, her strawberry-blonde hair spilling over her eyes, "that just sounds really negative."

It did, but I couldn't help it. Mimi had been my best friend since freshman year. I didn't know if I would be able to survive without seeing her every day.

"It's true, though, Mims," I said, sitting up on my elbows, blowing a few strands of my dyed black hair out of my face. "I mean, after this year, it's done. We won't see each other every day anymore. You'll be off at Brown, and I'll be at God knows where."

"If I get into Brown."

"Why are you still second guessing it? You said it yourself that they were practically drooling all over you in that interview you went to. Besides, you got like…what…a 2300 on your SATs?"

"2170," she said quietly.

"That's right. See? Nothing to worry about."

Mimi sighed, running a hand through her hair. "I guess so. I just really don't want to go to university in Japan, you know? I've gotten so used to the American school system that I don't think I could ever go back."

"It's why you're so smart, though."

Mimi smirked, rolling over on her stomach. She looked me straight in the eyes. "If you knew any of my friends over there, you'd think twice about the truth of that statement."

I rolled my eyes. "Yeah, whatever. You've said that before."

"Yes, and I'm going to say it again. When you meet them, you'll see."

I scoffed. "More like 'if'."

Mimi shook her head, her hair bouncing. "No 'ifs'. You're coming back with me this break."

"Yeah, whatever." I rose up, dusting off my pink-with-Scottie-terrier pajama pants. "We'll see if that happens."

"You going to bed?" Mimi asked, a hint of concern in her voice. She knew that I always got semi-upset when she talked about us going to Japan.

I nodded. "I'm kind of tired, and I want to get a fresh start tomorrow."

"Okay," she got up and followed me to the guest room. "I guess I'll see you in the morning, then."

"All right. Good night, Mimi."

"Oyasuminasai, Chloe-san," she said with a smile. I smiled back, and then closed the door.

* * *

Hi.

I'm sure you're confused by what all just took place. I mean, I don't blame you. To just have some random conversation, full of little side things that you don't understand, thrown at you like that? I would be a little lost, too. So, let me liven things up a bit.

I'm Chloe. Chloe Gates. I'm 17 years old, and I go to Grayridge High School, a little high school outside of Garden City, New York. I've got long, curly, bottle black hair and blue eyes. I'm about 5'4", with a size 10 shoe. I'm pretty pale, but it's not for lack of trying to get tan. I just burn. I live with my dad and my cat Serena. Yes, she is named after Sailor Moon. My mom passed away of cancer when I was in 6th grade.

Oh, and to give you more of a visual, I'm also a size 16/18.

Yeah, I'm overweight. Chubby. Husky. Curvy. Voluptuous. Heavy. FAT. Whatever you want to call it, that's me. Always has been me, and probably always will be me. I've been told I make a great pillow. And that's fine with me. I kind of find comfort in my extra layers. Of course, there are always days where I would KILL to be a pencil of a person.

Like my best friend, Mimi Tachikawa. She's so pretty. She's about 5'1" with dyed pink and strawberry red colored hair, in which she puts little sparkly star clips. Her brown eyes glitter at the mention of chocolate and boys. She's also incredibly thin, and has tiny little dainty feet.

Jealousy? Nah, none at all.

Sarcasm? Of course not.

Anyways, Mimi and I. We've been best friends since our World History class our freshman year of high school. She had just moved to New York from Odaiba, Japan, and was scared out of her mind. I had just graduated from Grayridge Elementary, a school I had been at since kindergarten, so I was scared out of my mind as well. World History was our first class, and we ended up sitting next to each other.

"Hi," I said, meekly.

"Konni- I mean, hi," she said, blushing slightly.

Just then, our teacher came in. He was a rather small old man – maybe 5'6" if he was lucky – but he commanded the class like a military drill sergeant. You did not MESS with Mr. LaRoux. He would point you out in class and yell for about a half an hour about how you disrespected him and history. He was like every world dictator wrapped into one little man.

We survived the class, and, after comparing schedules, discovered that we had choir together as well. We were both sorted as sopranos, so we were able to sit next to each other. She has a beautiful singing voice.

"I'm Chloe Gates, by the way," I said, sticking my hand out at her as we walked through the gym to get to the main floor.

"Mimi," she smiled, shaking my hand vigorously. "Mimi Tachikawa."

I smiled back. "I think we're going to be great friends, Mimi Tachikawa."

"I would like that, Chloe Gates." She said my name like Ku-ro-ee. I loved the way it sounded. Exotic, somehow.

The next weekend, we had a slumber party at my house. Dad made us a huge bowl of puppy chow (gotta love that stuff!) and we rented a bunch of American 80s classics that Mimi hadn't seen. The only one we got through was the Breakfast Club, though, because she and I started talking.

"I hope this isn't too blunt…but…where are you from?" I asked, hoping to not offend her.

"Japan. Odaiba, to be exact."

"Wow, that's so cool!" I said, clapping my hands together in excitement. I had been hoping she had been from Japan. I loved Japan – had since around the 4th grade. I was very heavy into anime for a while, and I loved listening to Japanese music, particularly Ayumi Hamasaki and Utada Hikaru. I could even sing along to a couple of their songs, even though I had no idea what I was singing.

"Yeah, I guess." She sighed. "America is…very different from home. I guess I will just have to get used to it."

I rubbed the back of my neck. "How long ago did you move here?"

"Two months ago."

"Wow. That's not that long."

"No, it isn't." She leaned back, resting her back against the front of my couch and laying her head down on the couch cushion. She muttered something to herself in Japanese.

"What was that?" I asked.

"I just said that I was happy to have met you, only in Japanese."

"I'm happy, too. You're a great person."

She blushed. "Thank you, Chloe."

"You speak English very well, too, if you don't mind me saying. How long did you study it?"

She sighed. "Ano (which is 'umm' in Japanese – I knew that much)…about 6 years. I'm hoping that living here will help with it."

"I'm sure it will."

"Hey," she said, touching me on the hand, "I can teach you some Japanese, if you would want."

I felt my eyes light up. "You would?"

She smiled a toothy grin. "Yes! First lesson…what time is it?"

I looked over at the DVD player. "2:30 in the morning."

"All right. I am going to bed. So, I would say good night. Oyasuminasai."

"Oya….sumi…nasai."

"Exactly. So….oyasuminasai, Chloe-san."

"Oyasuminasai, Mimi-san."

I turned off the light, and we both crawled into the sleeping bags my dad had set out for us. We looked over at each other in the darkness, the stars in her hair glittering in the moonlight, and started giggling. I knew in that moment that we were best friends.

Mimi soon made other friends at Grayridge, as did I, but we were still inseparable. Japanese proved a little more difficult than I had imagined, so our lessons grew spare. Her English improved majorly, to the point where she was able to pronounce the 'l' in my name like a native English speaker. She even started calling me "Chlo". I called her "Mims".

Every teacher knew to separate us in the classrooms because we wouldn't pay attention during class if we were near each other. The only class we were ever quiet in was World History, which, as I said above, was run by Napoleon Bonaparte incarnate.

That night, the night before our senior year, I lay in Mimi's guest bedroom, arms behind my head, staring at the ceiling, wondering about what was going to happen. I had a feeling it was going to be a big year, but I had no idea what was in store for me.

Boy, was I in for a surprise.


	2. Chapter 1

**Chapter 1**

"We're seniors," I said the next day as Mimi and I climbed into my car. Mimi had never gotten her driver's license, so I drove her everywhere in my little white Chevy Cavalier. Luckily, she didn't live that far away from me, so it wasn't a big deal. I turned on the car and turned down the radio simultaneously. I always listen to my music really loud, so I have to turn it down in the mornings because my ears aren't used to it.

"God, don't remind me," she said, pulling down my sun visor and applying huge amounts of gloss to her lips. I popped in our first day of school mix – a bunch of Ayumi Hamasaki's peppiest songs. I envied her as she sang along perfectly to every song, her lips sparkling in the rising sunlight. She put her star clips in her hair, pushing it all behind her ears.

Mimi was so freaking pretty.

"Soko kara mieru keshiki wa donna ka tte," she sang along with "Humming 7/4". She told me once what it meant, but I didn't remember. I just joined in at the "Everybody go! Everybody jump!" parts. We had a good 20 minute drive ahead of us, so Ayu was a perfect way to get us pumped. We needed it, too, considering we had both been staying up until 3 in the morning, chatting on Facebook the past few weeks.

"This is our last year at Grayridge." I emphasized, turning right onto Jefferson, the road that would take us to our final destination. "This is it."

"Chloe, stop. Seriously. You're making me nervous." She started putting mascara on her eyelashes. We stopped at a stoplight, and I quickly whipped out my black eyeliner and started lightly lining my bottom lid. I had it timed out – this stoplight was really long, so I was able to quickly line my eyes before it turned green. I took a sip of my hot chocolate and coffee combination, closing my eyes and savoring the caffeine.

"Green means go, grandma!" Mimi said, punching me lightly in the arm. I pushed down the gas pedal. My car didn't have that much get up and go, so it took it a while to get up to the 40 miles per hour that the speed limit signs suggested. People passed me. Whatever. Not my fault.

I took another sip, and then passed it to Mimi. She gulped about half of it down. "I always forget how good this is," she said, wiping her mouth with the back of her hand. "Especially this early in the morning. Shit."

Mimi loved to curse in English. I said "fuck" one day after I got a paper cut our freshman year, and when she heard me, and learned it was a curse word, there was no turning back. Even after all this time, it still made me giggle.

"M" was next, and we both knew it. We knew the track list by heart. We sang the opening line as loudly as we could. "'MARIA' ai subeki hito ga ite, kizu o otta subete no monotachi..." I cranked up the stereo to the point where I knew the cars next to us would hear the complete song, and not just the bass. The jocks next to us, decked out in their letter jackets (even though it was 80 degrees outside), slowly looked over, raising their eyebrows. Mimi looked over, pulled down her eyelid, and stuck out her tongue. Their eyes grew huge, and they all turned away in sync. We both laughed, returning to our song.

As I pulled into the parking lot, my hands began to shake. I was nervous, no doubt about it. I mean, this was my last year. I was off to college next fall. I was going to apply to CUNY Brooklyn College and New York University in a few months. I really wanted to go to CUNY for the radio and television broadcasting major. I fell in love with television production the moment I first held a camcorder. You remember the huge ones from the 90s? Oh yeah. I still have one. It's in my room.

Mimi, on the other hand, was the smartest person I knew. She already applied to Harvard, Brown, and Columbia. She really wanted to go to Brown, but she said any of them would be good for her. She was going for pre med.

Told you she was smart.

"Well, this is it," Mimi said once the song was over. "We're here."

"Yes, we are." I turned the radio down and shut the car off. I sighed, looking over at her. "You ready for this?"

"As ready as I'll ever be." And, with that, we climbed out of the car, unlocked the back doors (I don't have power locks…my car is ghetto), and grabbed our jam-packed book bags. Putting our arms around each other's shoulders, we ventured into the building, hoping beyond hope that everything would turn out okay.

* * *

Decorating the inside of a locker is an art. You have to put the pictures in a certain order. They have to be the right size - not too big, not too small. They also have to show your personality. You can't have a boring locker. People have to see something about you when they walk by.

I decorated my locker with pictures of various bands and singers, including Ayumi Hamasaki and Matchbox Twenty, my other big obsession. I had several pictures of Mimi and I together, along with a picture of us with a couple of our other mutual friends. I had a picture of my cat, and a picture of my dad and I. I also had a mirror that I stuck in the middle of my locker, right below the lock. Gotta look good for the boys, you know.

I laughed at myself when I put the mirror up. I wasn't the type that high school guys went for. I hadn't ever had a boyfriend (except in preschool, which totally counts! Not.). I hadn't even been kissed. Mimi hadn't either, but that was because she liked someone in Japan. The way she talked about him…it was as if they had gone through something major together.

A locker a few down from me opened, causing me to jump from my reverie. I leaned over very slowly, expecting to see Rob Jacobsen, the guy who was two lockers away from me. Instead, I saw a guy I had never seen before.

Now, new students are a normal, natural occurrence in school. Normally, I didn't think anything about it. If it were a guy, they were just another guy that would ignore me.

But this was different.

This guy was cute.

And I mean it. He was cuuuuuuuuuuuute.

This kid was about my height and had reddish-brown hair. His skin was an olive color, much like Mimi's. I quickly pulled my head back so only one of my eyes could see him. He was putting his books away in an orderly fashion. He had one single picture in his locker, but I couldn't see what it was because he was blocking it. I watched him take a step back, analyze his locker, and then pull what looked like a laptop case out of his bag and gingerly put it in. I kind of had a feeling it was his most prized possession from the way he handled it.

Mimi finished decorating her locker incredibly quickly. She basically teleported in front of my locker, blocking my view of Cutie McCutepants. She started chattering, stepping in front of me and applying more lipgloss.

"Jessie already complained to me about her math class. I mean, come on. She's a sophomore. What's the class that sophomores normally take?"

"Geometry," I replied, semi-listening. I had to think of a way for her to move!

"Yeah, that's right. That's when I took calculus." She smacked her lips, putting her lip gloss back in her jeans pocket. "I'm so glad I don't have to take a math…Oh my God."

I started putting my books in my locker, giving up on making her move. "What?" I said, flipping my hair over my shoulder.

"That's not…no way…Koushiro?"

I leaned over her shoulder to see what she was talking about. The guy turned, his eyes the darkest brown I had ever seen. They looked almost black. He didn't even have time to respond, because Mimi ran over and wrapped her arms around him in a huge hug. He picked her up and twirled her around, both of them laughing.

"Surprise!" He said once he put her back down. She cupped his face in her hands, squealing.

"What are you doing here?"

"I'm an exchange student."

"You little bugger…you knew where I went to school, didn't you?"

He shrugged. "You told me once. I went to Fujiama and talked to him about enrolling me in an exchange program. I requested that I come here, and, luckily, the school accepted." He put his hands out. "And now, I'm here."

"Why didn't you tell me?"

His eyes glittered. "I wanted it to be a surprise."

She playfully smacked him on the shoulder. "You little…what am I going to do with you?"

I turned back to my locker, silently putting the rest of my books away. I took out a notebook and a binder for my first class, French III. Our French classes were a joke. We learned five verbs our first year, and then got bombarded by a college professor the first half of our second year. Everyone failed. Our old teacher came back the second semester, and we threw a party for her. We were all really happy, even though we learned no French. This year was supposed to be difficult, but with Mrs. Robertson at the helm, I was sure it would be a breeze, just like every other year.

"Oh, Koushiro, come here!" Mimi suddenly appeared next to my locker with him. "You have to meet this girl. She's my best friend."

"I thought I was your best friend," he said with a smirk. She rolled her eyes, ruffling his hair.

"Shush. Koushiro, this is Chloe. Chloe, this is-"

"Just call me Izzy," he said, sticking out his hand. I smiled with a slight blush on my cheeks, shaking it lighter than I normally would.

"Izzy? Is that your American name?"

"Tai started calling me that. It's short for 'Izumi'. I figured it would work."

"I'm still calling you Koushiro." She crossed her arms and let out a high-pitched 'humph'.

"That's fine." The warning bell rang. Izzy looked up at the ceiling. "Wow, that's loud."

"What's your first class?" Mimi asked him, poking him on the shoulder.

"Advanced computer sciences."

"Psh," she said, rolling her eyes. "You'll kick their asses."

"Umm…" he looked from one of us to another. "Could one of you show me where the room is? I have no idea where I'm going."

"Sure!" Mimi grabbed his arm and pulled him off in the direction of the computer lab. "See you later, Chloe!"

"Nice to meet you!" He yelled down the now packed hallway. I waved slightly, the blush still on my cheeks.

"Nice to meet you, too."

* * *

Fourth period rolled around faster than I thought it would. French class was a breeze, like I thought it would be. Government was taught by Mr. Carroll, a larger man with a sense of humor that was off the wall. He would randomly yell in the middle of class to make sure everyone was awake. I had already figured my econ class would be boring, and it was turning out to be that way.

But fourth period? Fourth period was my favorite part of the day.

Why?

That was choir.

We were simply known as the Grayridge mixed choir, but we had a reputation of being one of the best in the area. Our main competition was the choirs from Manhattan. And man, were they good. We had the potential to be that good, but some of the members didn't really care. They just wanted their music requirement.

That made me sad, but it was okay, because Mimi was in the class with me. That also meant she had lunch with me. Our lunch was split into three sections; A, B, and C. Choir always had C lunch because if you had a lunch before that, the food would coat your throat and mess up your voice. Makes sense, right? I thought so.

"I still can't believe Koushiro's here," she said as she took her seat next to me in the back row. Mr. Moreau, who greatly resembled a mob boss, leaned against the baby grand piano in the middle of the room as we all piled in. "He's such a little snot for not telling me he was coming."

I tried to look above everyone's head to see the kids who had moved from the girls and boys choirs and up to the big kid choir. I was watching for our friends Jessie Christian and Miranda Miller. They were both sophomores, and the cutest things in the world. They also possessed really good singing voices. They were altos, though, so they were going to be on the other side of the room.

"Do you see Jessie or Miranda?" I asked Mimi, but she was off in her own little world. "Oh, okay. That's fine." It seemed like she was on another planet.

'Crap,' I thought to myself. I couldn't remember the name of the guy that she liked in Japan. If she liked Izzy (which it seemed like she did), I didn't want to be interested.

But, I was interested, just based off of looks. I was normally not that shallow. But, God, he was cute. Of course, nothing would happen. Why would it? He'd be gone in a year anyways. Plus, cute guys didn't go for me.

No guys went for me.

Jessie and Miranda ran into the room just as the bell rang. The only two seats left were two in the very front row, so they hopped into those. Miranda turned around and waved at us, poking Jessie in the arm and getting her to wave as well.

"Welcome to the Grayridge mixed choir," Mr. Moreau said in his booming voice. The class instantly went quiet. "I see some old and some new faces. This year is going to be a great year. I can feel it." He gestured with his right hand. "There will be some ups and downs, but it will all come together. The music will be challenging. Even the sopranos will have some difficult parts." We all chuckled at that. Sopranos always get stuck with the melody. "But, I know you can all do it."

Mimi nudged me. I looked over at her. "What?" I whispered.

"Jessie and Miranda are here."

I rolled my eyes. Totally in her own world.

* * *

"Choir is going to be so awesome!" Jessie said as she sat down with her tray. Pizza today, complete with a salad, peaches, a brownie, and a little carton of chocolate milk. I hate peaches. They're all slimy and just…ugh. "Hit me up with your peaches, Chloe."

"Gladly," I said, passing them over with my plastic spork. I made a face while doing it. She laughed.

"You and your peaches, I swear." Miranda said, sitting down next to Jessie and passing her peaches on as well. She flipped some of her long, platinum blonde hair behind her shoulder. I tucked some of my hair behind my ear and started in on my pizza. Pizza days were my favorite. The slices had those little, chopped up chunks of pepperoni on them, and a stuffed crust. Delicious.

"Can I sit here?" A voice asked. I looked up, mid bite into my pizza. It was none other than Izzy. The blush returned, and my eyes flicked down.

"Of course!" Mimi scooted over to allow him to sit. "Sit!"

"And who might this be?" Jessie asked, leaning over Mimi and batting her eyelashes at Izzy. His eyes widened in an expression of fright. I laughed in my head, chewing my bite.

"This is Koushiro."

"Izzy," he corrected. "Call me Izzy."

Mimi put her hand in his face. "Whatever. He's a friend of mine from Odaiba. We've known each other since we were 10."

"We met at summer camp," he added. They exchanged a knowing glance. I looked from Izzy to Mimi, and back again. Something had definitely happened between the two of them. I racked my brain, trying to remember what the name of the guy she liked was. Nothing.

"Well, awesome," Jessie said, still batting her eyelashes. "I'm Jessie, and this is Miranda and Chloe."

"We met this morning," Izzy said with a smile. "Nice to see you again."

"Likewise." I took another bite of pizza, trying to be as dainty as possible, since he was watching me. Truth is, I'm a messy eater, and a piece of pepperoni fell on my light colored jeans.

"Shit," I said really loud, taking a napkin and trying to wipe it off. A rather large, orange grease spot interrupted the pattern of the wash.

"Tide pen? Anyone have a Tide pen?"

The girls shook their heads. Izzy just stared at me.

"What?" I asked, grabbing Mimi's water bottle and dousing my napkin in the wonderful, stain-fighting liquid.

"Nothing," he said, shaking his head. "You just seem too shy for cursing."

"HA!" Mimi shouted, making a few of the students turn around in their seats and look at her. "Chloe, shy? Hilarious."

"You just know me, that's all." I smiled at Izzy. "Once you get to know me, you'll understand."

"I'm the same way," he said, returning the smile. I felt my cheeks grow a little warm. I knew my face was going to be permanently red by the time I went home. Too much blushing.

"So who are you staying with, Izzy?" Miranda asked, shoving a bite of ranch-drenched salad into her mouth. A dribble escaped onto her face, which she licked off. Miranda was an incredibly messy eater; messier than me – and that's saying something. She also had no table manners. Elbows on the table. Talking with her mouth full. Things like that. Part of her charm, I suppose.

"The Parkers? Their son's name is Eli."

"Eli Parker?" Jessie nearly spit out her brownie. "_The _Eli Parker?"

"Umm…sure." He looked thoroughly confused. "Is there a problem?"

"No, he's just the most popular kid in school." Eli Parker truly was the most popular kid in school. He was a senior this year as well. I had known him since we were in first grade. We actually used to be really close. I used to have a huge crush on him as well. But, I gained a bunch of weight, and he decided to distance himself from me because of it. I hated him for a while because of it, but I gradually became indifferent to him. He was just another boy who only saw what was on the outside. Nothing out of the ordinary. "I mean, he's the top of the food chain. You get in with him, you're in with everyone."

"I'll…keep that in mind."

"Now, Chloe," Miranda pointed at me with her spork, "my goal this year is to get you a boyfriend. I've been dating Jason for a year now. Jessie's got a date already this year, and it's just the first day. Mimi…well…" she looked at Mimi, who was glaring at her. "Mimi's got that boy in Japan. But you? We've got to get something."

"Good luck with that," I said, pointing at her back with my own spork.

"Maybe Izzy can hook you up with Eli Parker," Jessie said. The table fell quiet. Mimi shook her head 'no', her eyes wide.

"I've…umm…got a stain to get out," I said, picking up my tray of half-eaten food and throwing it out. I wasn't that hungry, anyways. I went out of the cafeteria and down the hall to the bathroom by the auditorium. As I left, I heard Mimi yell something out of frustration in Japanese, and then heard the click of her heels on the tile as she came after me.

I went into a stall and sat down, putting my head in my hands. It wasn't that she had mentioned Eli. I didn't even like Eli. It was that they had mentioned me not having a boyfriend. It was a hopeless goal. No one had expressed an interest in me in the three years I had been there, so why would they start now?

"Chloe?" Mimi said, storming in the bathroom. The door slammed against the wall from the force of her opening it. "Chloe, honey…"

"I don't need that, you know?" I said, wiping a silent tear from my cheek. I knew my makeup was going to be messed up. I was kind of pissed. "I really don't need that."

She walked over to the sinks and crossed her ankles. "I know, you don't. It's not fair to you. They just don't understand."

I scoffed. "And like you do."

"Chloe, we've been over this…" She came up to the stall and started pulling on the top of it. "Open up."

I let her pull on the door for a few seconds, and then unlatched it. She got down on her knees, putting her hands on my cheeks. "You are a beautiful, intelligent, sassy woman. Guys in high school just want one thing, and one thing only. They're not worth your time."

The warning bell rang. I quickly stood up and went to the mirror, smudging my running eyeliner the best I could. I grabbed a paper towel and wiped off my face, blowing my nose afterwards. Crying really made my nose run.

Mimi rubbed my back. "It's going to be all right. I promise."

I smiled at her, my eyes still shining. "Thanks."

She grabbed me by the shoulders and spun me around. "You are beautiful."

A tear slid down my cheek. "I wish I could believe that."

* * *

I made it through discrete math and chemistry without a problem. My last class of the day was AP English. I had been kind of nervous about it, considering it was a college level course, and my last college level course – the French class – had not gone too well. Also, I kind of had a crush on the teacher, Mr. Jones. He was a younger guy, probably early 30s, with a goofy smile and an even goofier sense of humor. He was brilliant, though, which made me love him even more.

I walked into the class, sitting in the corner farthest from everyone. My makeup was still slightly smudged, and I didn't want everyone else to see. Plus, if I sat in the corner, Jones wouldn't call on me or look at me…right?

I looked up at the clock. 2:15. 45 more minutes. I wanted this day to be over. So far, the only good thing had been meeting Izzy, and I ruined a perfect opportunity to talk to him by storming out and crying over boys. It was dumb. I'm dumb.

The bell rang, and someone came running in just as it did. I caught a flash of red out of the corner of my eye as they sat down next to me.

"Hi," Izzy said breathlessly. "Are you okay?"

My cheeks went red again. "Yeah, I'm fine."

"Okay, good. I was worried."

I smiled. "Thank you."

"All right, you rowdy kids," Mr. Jones said, "who read the books over the summer?"

Izzy, myself, and three other people were the only ones who raised their hands. There were twenty some kids in the class.

He sighed, rubbing his nose. "As I figured. Well, you're going to read them, whether you like it or not. They were _Song of Solomon _and _Jane Eyre_. Go buy them when you get out from school. I'm assuming most of you have cars. If not, carpool. There's a Barnes and Noble not too far from here. They're cheap.

"Anyways, AP English. There will be essay writing throughout this course, and you will learn to love it." A couple of the kids groaned. "No groaning. I'm telling you, essay writing is fabulous. It really stretches out the creative muscles." He stretched out his arms as a demonstration. "We'll be reading several books – too many to count right now – and we'll be discussing them as we go along. I expect everyone to participate," I felt his eyes on me at that point. How did he know? "And I want everyone to have a fun time. All right?"

Silence.

"Right. Okay. Syllabus time." He passed out the syllabi to the first people in each row. We went over the syllabus for the rest of class. Between Mr. Jones and Izzy, I was having a hard time concentrating. My face was on fire by the time class ended.

When the bell rang, I quickly grabbed my stuff and headed out the door. I was halfway down the hall when I heard Izzy calling my name.

"Hey! Chloe!"

I turned around, my hair flying into my face and sticking to my chap stick as I did so. I used my free hand to brush it out of my face. Embarrassing. "Yes?"

He ran up to me, his eyes sparkling. "I have to go find Eli, but I just wanted to tell you that it was great to meet you today."

I flashed a toothy grin. "You too, Izzy."

"Okay…well…have a good rest of your day," he said awkwardly with a wave, and took off up the stairs. I stood there in the hallway, people pushing around me, my own head swirling with possibilities.

* * *

"Hey honey!" Dad yelled from the kitchen when he heard me drop my book bag on the couch. "How was your first day?"

"It was good," I said as I walked in the kitchen, "I met someo- what are you doing?"

My father was a rather short man, not much taller than myself. But he was making up for his height with a massive chef's hat affixed onto his sandy hair. He was wearing the 'Kiss The Cook' apron my grandmother had gotten him one Christmas, and was standing over a large mixing bowl with a huge whisk.

"Making meringues," he said nonchalantly, whisking what I assumed to be egg whites.

"Why?"

"They sounded delicious. I haven't cooked in a while, and it was your first day, so I figured I'd make you something special."

I put my arms around him from the back and hugged him. "Thank you, dad."

He leaned over and kissed the top of my head. "You're very welcome, sweetheart." I let him go, and he started whisking again. "Now, you were saying something?"

"Oh," I leaned up against the kitchen table, crossing my arms. "I met someone today."

"A new kid! Nice!" He whisked quickly for a moment, and then brought it up, testing the peaks of the egg whites. "What's their story?"

"His name is-"

He whipped around. "'His'?"

I nodded with a smile. "Yes, dad. His. His name is Izzy."

A sly smile crept up on his face. "Hmm…"

"Don't get any ideas."

"Why not?"

"Well, for starters, he's an exchange student, so he'll only be here for a year. And, Mimi knows him and might have a huge crush on him." I paused. "Plus, he's a guy."

"Peaks are good!" He shouted, putting both arms in the air. He really got into cooking. He stuck the whisk back in the bowl and turned around, wiping his hands on his apron. He put one hand on my shoulder and one hand on my face. "Anyways, you are beautiful. The guys at your school are posers and losers. You shouldn't want any of them to even touch you." He looked at me over his wire-rimmed glasses. "Your school is kind of a poser school, anyways."

"Then why did you send me there?"

He paused. "Touché. I didn't really have a choice, but touché." He patted my cheek and turned back to his meringues, mixing in a bag of mini chocolate chips. "Tell me about this Izzy kid."

"Well…he's from Japan, he's got reddish brown hair, really dark eyes…umm…he's a little taller than me…speaks English flawlessly…seems like he's really smart…"

"And you said Mimi's got a crush on him?"

Way to bring me down, Dad. "She might. I'm not sure."

"Well, then," he started plopping little dollops of meringue on a cookie sheet. "Talk to her about it. Maybe there's something there."

"It's been a day, Dad. I just met the guy."

"So? I married your mother after just two months of knowing each other. You never know what can happen."

"We're 17."

"We were 19." He shoved the cookie sheet into the oven and set the timer for 7 minutes.

"Are you trying to get me to marry the guy?"

He laughed a little too loudly. "No. I'm just saying that you never know where life will take you. You shouldn't rule stuff out so quickly."

I sighed, pulling out one of the kitchen chairs and sitting down on it. It creaked slightly, making me cringe. "I'm just going by past experience."

He ruffled my hair as he walked into the living room, plopping down and turning on sports or something. I rested my chin on my hand, blowing a few strands of hair out of my face. Dad was right; I shouldn't cancel things out in my head so quickly. But, honestly…going by past experience, there was no way that anything was going to happen. I knew in my heart that the most Izzy was going to be was a great friend who was going to leave in a year, and who I'd probably never see again.

But, deep in that same heart, there was a glimmer of hope. Maybe something could happen.

"I'm going to my room," I said, grabbing my book bag and slinging it over my shoulder.

"I'll get you when the meringues are done," Dad said, flipping through the channels. I left him out in the living room, closing the door behind me. I flopped down on my bed.

A small, miniscule glimmer of hope. But a glimmer nonetheless.


	3. Chapter 2

**Chapter 2**

"I'm thinking of throwing a party," Mimi said the next day as she climbed into my car. She immediately flipped down the rearview mirror and started putting on her lip gloss.

"A party? Why?" I turned the stereo down slightly. I had been blaring some Matchbox Twenty before I arrived at her house, and my favorite song, "Bright Lights", was currently on. I knew she didn't like to yell, but I figured she would understand.

"Oh, leave it up!" She looked at me for permission to turn up the radio. I'm kind of a radio Nazi. I nodded, throwing the car in reverse and backing out of the driveway. She turned it up louder than I had had it before. "Anyways, party. Everyone has an end of school party, but no one has a beginning of school party, right?"

"That's because the beginning of school is lame," I said.

She laughed. "Yeah, well, maybe it just needs a party to make it not so lame. You know, something to liven the times up."

"When would you be having said party?" I put the car in drive and sped off down the street. Our favorite part of the song came on and we both pushed pause on the conversation, beating on the steering wheel and dashboard respectively, and yelling at the top of our lungs, "TURN YOURSELF AROUND AND COME ON HOME!"

"Well, I was thinking this weekend," she said, flipping some of her hair back and working on her mascara. "Maybe invite a bunch of the seniors over and just unwind from the first week of school."

"What have your parents said about it?"

"Oh, I haven't talked to them yet."

"Mimi!"

"What? I've still got 4 days. They weren't home last night, anyways. Out having some sort of date night."

"Oh," I turned onto Jefferson. "Well, that's nice. Good for them."

"Don't worry. I won't really plan anything without them knowing. You know how they get."

"You don't have to tell me." I went over to her house once without prior consent from her parents. They literally pushed me out of the door as soon as they saw me and slammed it in my face. I could hear them yelling in Japanese from the outside of the house.

"Anyways, I know you don't like parties-"

"I never said I didn't like parties." I never _did _come out and say it, but I really didn't like parties. All the ones I had been to were just stuffy and not exciting. I normally just sat off in a corner, listened to the music, and drank whatever drink I had in my hand.

"Yeah, well, you definitely act like it," she flipped up the visor. "Even if all you did was sulk in the corner, I would still love for you to come."

"We'll see." I pulled into the school parking lot, parking a lot closer to the door than I did the day before. We got our book bags and walked into the school. My heart started beating as we headed down the hallway toward the lockers. Izzy was going to be there. He was going to look at me, probably smile, and say hi or good morning or something to that effect. And I would swoon on the inside. Possibly on the outside as well.

But alas, he was not there as we rounded the corner toward our lockers. 'Eli must be running late,' I thought, shoving my books into my locker. I found it unfortunate that I had to think of Eli. I shoved my last book a little harder than usual into my locker.

Eli. God. I hoped that year wouldn't turn out to be The Year of the Return of the Crush on Eli. That would just suck massive monkey balls.

As if on cue, Eli sauntered past me, his letter jacket on his arm. He scooped some blonde bimbo up in his arms and laid one on her. I turned away in disgust, grabbing my French books and shutting my locker.

"Hi," a voice said right as I shut it, causing me to jump. Izzy was standing sheepishly by my locker, running a hand through his hair.

I put a hand over my heart. "Izzy! You scared me half to death!"

"Sorry," he said, looking down at his shoes. "I have to go now, but I just wanted to say good morning."

I smiled, awwing in my head. "Well, good morning to you, too."

"I'll try and make sure Eli's on time next time." He stood up on his tip-toes, making him a head taller than me. "Is Mimi here?"

My smile fell slightly. "Yeah, she's here somewhere. I bring her to school every day."

"Oh, okay." The warning bell rang, making me look up. I hugged my books close to my chest. "Well, I've got to go to class, but I will see you at lunch?"

I nodded. "Sure. Have a good class."

He waved, heading off in the direction of his computers class. Someone shoved me in the shoulder. Looking forward, I saw Eli turn around, his arm around the same blonde bimbo. "Watch where you're going," he said, and then laughed at some stupid joke his douche bag friend made. I shrunk down into my books and headed into the mob down the stairs, trying not to send my mind into overload.

* * *

"Got the okay," Mimi said as she slid in next to me at lunch. She had made it to choir just as the bell rang, so we didn't get a chance to talk. Yucky meatloaf today. I had just gone to the a la carte line and gotten some chicken fingers and a water bottle.

"How?" I said, dragging my chicken finger through honey mustard.

"I texted my mom during Spanish class." She said matter-of-factly. "And she actually said yes."

"How did you get away with that? Marks is psychotic!" Jessie said with wide eyes. "It's like she has a phone radar or something. I got mine taken away twice last year."

"I'm just sneaky, I guess." She moved the meatloaf around on her plate. "Gross. Anyone want this?"

We all shook our heads. Miranda stuck her tongue out in disgust, and then started looking around, her face all concerned.

"Hey, where's that one kid?"

"One kid…" I said, still drowning my chicken finger.

"The kid who sat with us yesterday."

Mimi stood up and started looking around the lunch room. "I don't know where he is. He probably got held up in a class or something."

'Damn,' I thought, finally taking a bite. 'I was hoping to get to talk to him.'

As if on cue, he came running in the cafeteria, books practically spilling out of his hand, his hair all messed up. It almost looked like he had came from a quickie or something.

"There you are!" Mimi said, patting the seat next to her. "Come! Sit! Rest!"

"Sorry," he said, flopping his books down and resting his head on top of them. "Physics is murdering me."

"It's only the second day!" Mimi said, rubbing him on the back. I envied her ability to do that. I swallowed it down with my second chicken finger.

"I know! That's what's getting me." He sighed. "Every other class here seems like it will be easy. But this one…I already need help. And it's the second day."

I wished I could be of some service, but I was terrible at math and science both. I had gotten out of taking Physics by taking Earth and Space science my freshman year, covering one of my three credits needed for the science part of the Academic Honors diploma. Now I was stuck in chemistry, my most dreaded subject. I suspected to pull no higher than a C in the class.

"At least you're being proactive about it this early in the year," Mimi said, snuggling her face against his head. My envy bubbled back up at that point. "It took me half a year to talk to my Spanish teacher last year when I was struggling."

"That's because Mrs. Marks is frightening," Jessie said, mowing down on some salad. "Her mouth is so big, she could literally bite your head off and eat it."

Mimi laughed. "Definitely." She then turned back to Izzy. "Are you going to eat any food?"

He shook his head. "No. Too stressed for food."

She then leaned in and whispered something in his ear. His shoulders shook with laughter. Envy envy envy.

"God, I still can't believe you're here."

"I can't believe I'm here, either. I've really missed you."

"I've missed you too!"

I stuck my finger down my throat in a mock gagging action. Jessie and Miranda giggled.

"Are you guys dating or something?" Jessie asked, looking between the two of them.

"NO!" They said in unison. They looked at each other and giggled again.

"We're just best friends," Mimi said, putting her arm around him. "The group back home is really close. We've all been through a lot together, and it's just made us really comfortable around each other."

"Obviously," Miranda said.

"Oh! I wanted to talk to you guys about the party I'm having this weekend."

"PARTY?" Jessie and Miranda said at the same time.

"I'm throwing a beginning of the year party this weekend. Inviting a whole bunch of people. You know," she brushed her shoulders off, a sly expression on her face, "because I'm awesome."

"Sweet," Jessie said. "I love parties."

"Of course you do," I said.

"What's that supposed to mean?"

I felt all eyes on me at that moment. I looked at everyone one at a time. Izzy just looked plain confused. "I didn't mean anything by it. Just that you're bubbly and exciting, so parties are a natural thing for you to like."

She pointed her spork at me, flashing a huge smile. "Damn straight I'm exciting!"

I wished I could be exciting. 'Maybe then Izzy would actually go for me.' Funny thing was, I could still feel his eyes on me. I stole a glance at him. Our eyes met, and his flicked back to Mimi, who was probably talking about her party, I don't know. I couldn't really tell in the fluorescent light, but it almost looked like there was a little pink on his cheeks.

* * *

"All right, everyone," Mr. Carroll said as we all filed in. "Today you're getting assigned seats." A few people in front of me moaned in complaint. "None of that. You'll get your seats and you'll learn to like the people next to you." After the bell rang and everyone was situated, he signaled for all of us to stand up and go to the back of the room. He called out each of our names and pointed to where we were going to sit for the remainder of the year.

"Chloe Gates?" He said, looking around the room when he got to me. I waved sheepishly. "Kay. You go here." He pointed to the desk right in front of his little podium. Front row freaking center. I gulped, cursing my last name. Why did I have to be in the middle? I knew that this would make him call on me more. I sat down begrudgingly, hoping that my demeanor didn't change too much.

"Uhh…okay…I'm going to butcher this…Ko…Koshi…"

"Izzy," he said. "Just call me Izzy."

"Kay, that works. You're next to Chloe."

'Shit,' I thought. 'He would put me in the front row, and then stick Izzy next to me.'

Izzy sat next to me with a smile. I smiled back. He then turned his gaze back to Mr. Carroll, looking around at everyone as they were called, probably making mental notes of whose name went with who.

I didn't pay attention in class that day. I was too busy trying to make myself invisible.

* * *

Saturday rolled around quickly. Mimi called me at about noon to see if I would help her go shopping and set up the party. I unwillingly said yes, trying to hide my non excitement. She knew I was totally faking it, though.

"You don't have to if you don't want to," she had said, sounding slightly crestfallen. "I can get Jessie or Miranda to go with me-"

"No, no! I'm going with you. It'll be fun, I promise."

"You promise?"

"As long as you straighten my hair for me, I'll go."

I could hear her smiling through the phone. That's how big her smile was. "Deal! Come pick me up in a half hour?"

"You got it. Love ya."

"Love you too!" I flipped my phone shut and sighed. I then scrambled to my feet and looked in my closet. What the hell was I going to wear? I actually had someone to _impress_ at this party. Scanning my closet carefully, looking at every shirt I owned, I discovered I didn't have much of anything to wear to a party. The only shirt I really had was a sweater, and I was NOT about to wear a sweater to a place with a ton of people. I'd just sweat to death.

Luckily, a) it was still summer, and b) there was still time to go shopping for a cute top before her party. I'd just drag her along with me. She could help me pick something out. She was a fashionista, anyways.

I grabbed my favorite pair of dark jeans and my silver, pointy-toed kitten heels. They were my favorite shoes, and they went with anything. Grabbing a bag from the bottom of my closet, I shoved it all in, along with my makeup bag. I figured I'd do my makeup and everything at her house, while she straightened my hair with her beastly, $100 ceramic straightener. I loved that thing. Her hair was perfectly straight, so it didn't make any sense to me for her to have it, but whatever.

I threw my bag in the back of my car and crawled in, popping my copy of Matchbox Twenty's "More Than You Think You Are" in my stereo. Mimi was sitting out on her porch when I got there, sipping on a glass of lemonade.

"Hey you," she said, getting up and throwing her arms around me. "Thanks for doing this. I know you hate parties."

"I need to get a shirt," I said absentmindedly.

"Okay. We can definitely do that." She disappeared into her house for a minute, and then came back out, purse in hand. "Let's blow this popsicle stand."

I laughed. It still got me when she said random American sayings. We got in the car, me putting the key back in the ignition, her putting her seatbelt on and checking her star clips in the visor.

"Where are we going?"

"I figured we could go to Wal-Mart or something. Where do you want to go for your shirt?"

"No idea. Maybe I'll find something there."

She flipped the visor shut and gave me a look. "Honey. It's a party. There will be guys there. No Wal-Mart clothes."

"Yeah," I said, hoping she hadn't caught on. "Who am I there to impress? Michael Washington? Ha!"

"Why not? He'll be there, and he's single. Hell, if I didn't already like someone, I'd be all over him. He's hot."

I had to admit, he was good looking, but I had never thought of him in that way. He was just a friend of Mimi's that I had randomly picked out in my head. I didn't know him all that well. "Hmm," I said to myself, passing the car in front of me. "I'll think about it."

She punched me lightly on the arm. "That's my girl! Get it!"

'She still didn't say who she liked,' I thought, turning up the stereo when "Bright Lights" came on. We both sang along to it until we pulled into the Wal-Mart parking lot. Grabbing a cart, we ventured into my least favorite place on earth.

I mean, there's nothing wrong with Wal-Mart itself. It's just the people at this particular Wal-Mart. They're creepy. There's this old guy that works there that follows me around. He's missing teeth, and has long, stringy hair. His eyes are all glazed over. IT'S CREEPY. I hate going into Wal-Mart.

And, of course, when we get in there, who do I see? Creeper McCreepface. Luckily, he didn't see me. I grabbed Mimi's arm and pulled her toward the clothes.

"Oh, I forgot about creepy guy," she said as we ducked behind a collection of guy's t shirts. "Why didn't you say anything?"

"I didn't think about it until we got in the door and I saw him."

"Gross."

"Let's just wait until he walks past." He trudged down the aisle, almost as if he was going slowly on purpose. He turned into the pet food aisle, leaving Mimi and I in clear waters.

"That was a close one," I breathed, standing back up. "I'm so glad he didn't – Mimi?"

"Come here!" I heard her call from a few displays down. I pushed my way through the shirts and pants and found her, standing in front of a rack full of dressy shirts. She had something behind her back. "I found it."

"I thought we weren't going to get anything at Wal-Mart," I said, putting my hands on my hips.

"Yeah, but look at this," she said, revealing the shirt to me.

"Oh, my God," I said in both shock and awe. She had found it. It was a black, deep v-neck shirt (one that I would need a camisole with, which was fine). It had a silver brooch where the v met, which would totally accent the boobular region. The sleeves were fluttery, and it was made of that flowing, jersey material. "That's perfect. That's absolutely perfect."

"You don't even know," she said, digging in the shirt and finding the price tag. She stuck it in my face.

It was $8.

"Oh, HELL yes!" I said, grabbing the shirt from her. "This mother fucker is mine!"

She laughed, putting her finger to her lips. "Shh, there are children present."

"Doesn't stop you," I said as we took off in the direction of party supplies.

"Yeah, well, I can play the 'I'm-foreign-and-I-don't-know-any-better' card."

I rolled my eyes. "You're terrible."

"You are going to look so hot in that shirt."

* * *

The stars were beautiful that night.

How did I know?

Because about an hour into the party, I decided to go outside and lay down on Mimi's trampoline instead of being inside. I had talked to a couple of people (including Michael, who said that he liked my shirt), but most of them I didn't know. Mimi knew a lot of people through people, so the house was jam-packed. I had to squeeze cut through a line waiting for the punch just to get to her back door. I heard her yell my name over the blaring of Ke$ha's "TiK ToK", but I ignored it, wanting to get some fresh air. It was beginning to smell like man sweat in there.

To my surprise, Izzy wasn't there. I was kind of pissed. I sipped from my water bottle as I stared up at the stars. My eyes happened to catch a shooting star.

'I wish Izzy would show up.' Totally lame, I know, but it was what I wanted more than anything in the world at that moment.

The back door slid open. I rolled my eyes and sighed. "Mimi, I don't want to hear it," I said, rolling over on my stomach, "I just needed some fresh air – hi."

"Hi," Izzy said, standing with a hand on the door handle. "I didn't know anyone else was out here."

'Thank you, Cosmos!' I thought.

"That's fine," I said, tucking some hair behind my ear. "I was just getting some fresh air. It smells like man in there."

He laughed a little. "Yes, yes it does." He walked up to the edge of the grass and stopped, rubbing the back of his neck. "Can I…can I join you?"

w00t. "Of course!" I scooted over slightly, the brooch on my shirt scraping against whatever material trampolines are made of. He climbed up on the trampoline and lay down, putting his hands behind his head. I followed suit. We sat in silence for a while, just staring at the stars. I started to fall asleep when he brought me out of my reverie.

"I haven't laid and looked up at the stars in a long time." He paused. "I haven't _seen _the stars in a long time." Sighing, he looked over at me. "Odaiba's too bright."

"It still shocks me that we can see the stars out here, with New York City being so close." I turned my head to meet his eyes. "Have you ever been to NYC?"

"Only when I flew in. The Parkers drove me directly to their house, so I didn't really get to see any of it." He shrugged. "I figure there will be plenty of time to see it while I'm here."

"Sure." I paused, wondering if I should even suggest it. Why the hell not? "Maybe you, me, and Mimi could go sometime."

I could make out his silhouette by the light of the moon. God, even his profile was cute. He smiled in the darkness. "I would like that."

Double w00t. My heart skipped a beat. He wanted to go to New York with me. Of course, Mimi was going, too, but still. I was going to go along with him. We were going to be around each other.

"When's your birthday?" He asked randomly.

"Uh…October 22nd. Yours?"

"May 13th."

"Oh." So he was younger than me. Not by much, though. "Why?"

"Just curious. I like to get things for my friends for their birthday."

I did a double take. He called me a friend. A huge smile lit up my face as I stared back up at the stars. "You don't have to get me anything."

"Oh, but I do. What kind of stuff do you like?"

"Uhh…" I had no idea what to say. All of my interests went flying out the window that was my head. Luckily, "evolution" by Ayumi Hamasaki started playing, reminding me that I did like her. "Ayumi Hamasaki. I really like her."

"You know about her?" He sounded shocked.

"Yeah," I said with a little bit of a laugh. "I love her. You sound shocked."

"I didn't think Americans listened to Japanese music."

"We don't," I rolled over on my side, resting my head on my hand. "I'm just different in that way."

"Did Mimi introduce you to her?"

I shook my head. "No. I found her through Inuyasha. I heard 'Dearest' and loved it, so I looked into her other stuff…that was around 7th grade or so."

"Wow. That's been a long time."

"Yeah." I paused. "What kind of stuff do you like?"

"Computers, mostly. Music also. I like Hamasaki Ayumi, too." I loved the way he said her name. He looked back up at the sky. "Don't tell Mimi that, though. She would tease me forever."

"Why?"

"Because she's girly and poppy, and I normally listen to rock songs. She doesn't need to know I have every Ayu album."

"Lucky," I said, rolling over on my back. "All of mine are burned copies."

"That is unfortunate." We sat in silence for a few more moments.

"Computers, huh?"

He shut his eyes. "Yeah. I actually brought my laptop out here to talk to some friends back home, but…the stars seemed so much more alluring." I got the feeling there was something else he was going to say. I silently wished he was going to say that _I _was much more alluring. I sighed to myself.

"They are beautiful."

"How long have you known Mimi?" He leaned over on his side. I turned my head and our eyes met. I was glad it was dark, because, in a flash, my face went beet red. He just looked so…handsome in the moonlight.

"Since freshman year. So, about four years."

"Ah," he said, tracing shapes in the trampoline. "You both seem really close."

"We are." I shut my eyes, smiling. "She's my best friend."

"Mine, too." He paused. "She would probably shoot me if I told you this…but…I used to have a huge crush on her."

"Used to?" I said a little too quickly. I wanted to put my hands over my face and scream into them, but I resisted, knowing that that would probably give everything away. I was trying to be discreet.

"Definitely. We were about 13, and she had just dyed her hair that strawberry blonde color that she still does. Did you know she used to be a brunette?"

"I had no idea."

"Yeah. It was a drastic change, and I just found myself wanting to stroke it."

Damn. Personal confession time, much? "Wow."

"That's when I knew. It lasted about a year. She just liked Jou so much, it wasn't worth it-"

I sat straight up, my hair in a static-y halo around my head. "JOU FREAKING KIDO." That was the name of the guy she liked. Jou Kido. It was all rushing back to me. He was a freshman at University of Tokyo, studying pre med. He had blue hair and glasses. Mimi had a picture of them together hanging up in her locker. It wasn't Izzy after all. My entire body felt lighter. I was free to like him as I chose.

"You okay?"

"Yeah," I said, propping myself up on my elbows. "I just couldn't remember the name of the guy Mimi liked. Thanks for reminding me."

"Umm…not a problem?"

The back door slid open, and the clack of really high, stiletto heels could be heard on the pavement. Mimi. "You two done making out? Seriously. There's a party in here."

Izzy flipped over on his back, saying something to her in Japanese. She scoffed, saying something back. I looked between the two of them, just listening, seeing if I could pick out any words I knew. I couldn't – they were speaking too fast. They went back and forth for a while before Mimi put her hands up and said "Whatever, Koushiro," and went back in the house, sliding the door shut really hard.

"What did you tell her?"

He smiled. So cute. "I told her I wasn't a party person, and that I'd rather be outside than inside, where it smelled like sweaty man."

I laughed. "Nice."

He swallowed quite loudly. "Can I ask you a question?"

My eyes grew wide, and I held my breath. I quickly looked the other way. "Anything."

"How is my English?"

That was it? I let out the air slowly, trying not to show my defeat. "It's fantastic. How long have you studied it?"

"Since primary school. I used to have an online friend named Willis from America that I would talk to quite frequently. I had to learn English in order to keep up with the latest developments in the computer world. Nothing from Microsoft was really in Japanese."

"I have a question for you."

"Ask away."

"PC or Mac?"

"Well, I originally had a PC, and then, when my parents got me a laptop, it was a Mac…and I've had that thing for an eternity." He suddenly jumped down and grabbed his computer case. He unzipped it and pulled it out. It was huge. "See? It's ancient. But it's the best laptop I've ever had. My parents have tried to give me new ones, but none of them have ever compared to this one." He suddenly laughed.

"What?" I asked, giving him and incredulous look.

He shook his head. "I was about to turn it on, but that would mean I'd be in front of it for hours." He put it back in its case and set it on top of Mimi's side deck. "There. It'll be safe there."

"Rude Boy" by Rihanna started playing. I hated to admit it, but I loved that song. I could hear Mimi and Miranda singing it karaoke style, with them alternating at the "Take it, baby, take it, love me, love me" part.

"Sounds like they're having fun," he said, looking at the door.

"Yeah." I rolled over on my stomach. "You can go in if you want. You don't have to stay out here."

"No," he said, getting back up on the trampoline and laying down. "This is nice. I haven't been able to have an actual conversation with a real person in a while."

"Really? How long has it been?"

"Since last June, when Mimi came back for a week." He sighed. "Our group back home…I mean, I love them and all, but Mimi's the only one who really gets me. She's one of the few people that I can just sit down and talk to face to face. I'm just better at communicating over the internet." He looked over at me. "Interesting."

"What is?" I was confused.

"Oh, just that I can talk to you like I talk to Mimi. I'm normally rather shy with new people, but I've always felt really comfortable with you."

He was just flattering me right and left. I was really enjoying this. "Well, thank you. I'm comfortable with you, too."

"I mean, I told you I had a crush on Mimi. Half the people at home don't know about that."

"Well, if this is true confessions time… used to have a crush on Eli."

"Like…the Eli I'm staying with?"

I nodded. "Yeah. I've known him since first grade. We actually used to be really close. Shocking, right?"

"How long ago was this?"

"8th grade…so we were 13, almost 14."

"What happened? If you don't mind me asking, of course."

I sighed. "No, I don't mind. He…umm…started distancing himself from me, hanging out with different people. I didn't really think anything of it, since we still talked and stuff. But then, he told me why he was doing it."

"Why was he doing it?"

I sighed again, breathing slowly. "Because…because I gained weight, and I was, according to him, 'no longer pretty enough' for him to be around."

"Wow." His eyes were full of concern. "I'm so sorry."

My eyes started to prick with tears. I had forgotten how much that had hurt. "It's all right. We haven't said a word to each other since." I turned my head. "It was a long time ago."

"Yeah…I've kind of noticed he doesn't hang around with the best of people. He's kind of a…how do you say it?...douche bag? Is that right?"

I giggled. "That's right. I agree – he is one."

Something started beeping. Izzy froze, his eyes wide. He hopped up quickly and ran to the door, pulling something out of his pocket. He held it up to the light. His eyes grew even wider. He said something to himself under his breath, and then looked at me. "I'm sorry, Chloe, but I have to cut this short. Something…something just happened." And, with that, he opened the door and ran into the living room. I saw him, Mimi, and Michael Washington talking in hushed voices. Mimi then came outside.

"Chloe…I have to ask you to leave."

"What?" I said, a little shocked.

"I have to ask everyone to leave, actually. I'm really sorry, but something just happened, and I have to get everyone out of the house."

"Is everything okay?" I got off of the trampoline as gracefully as I could, slipping my shoes back on.

"…No…" she looked tearful. I went to go give her a hug, but she turned around and went inside. I followed her. She shut off the stereo, causing everyone to moan in protest. "Sorry everyone, I have to kick you all out. My parents are coming home soon, and they don't know about this party."

My eyebrows furrowed. That was a lie. I looked over at Izzy and Michael, who were both looking at that something in Izzy's hand. Michael then looked at something in his own hand. They both nodded and headed over toward Mimi.

Something was going on, and I wanted to know what it was.

All of the people filed out the door, returning to their cars that were parked halfway around the block. I had the privilege of parking in the driveway, since I was the best friend and all. I stuck around for a little bit as the last people left, trying to get Mimi's attention.

"Mimi, what's going on? What happened?"

She looked very distraught, holding something behind her back. "Chloe, really, I need you to leave."

I pointed to Izzy and Michael. "And they don't have to leave?"

"They're kind of a part of this."

"Hi, Chloe," Michael said, smiling a meek smile. I looked at him for a second, and then back to Mimi.

"Seriously, if there's any way I can help-"

"You can help by leaving!" She said, practically pushing me out the door. "I'll see you on Monday." And, with that, she slammed the door in my face. I stood there for a few seconds, blinking, in total shock.

Had my best friend just kicked me out of her house?

Yes, she had. I went over and sat on her porch. Through her window, I could see her, Izzy, and Michael head up the stairs toward her room. I suddenly had dirty thoughts. Did she just kick me out for a threesome?

'No,' I thought, shaking my head. 'She looked wrecked. That's not the attitude of someone who was about to have a threesome.' I got up and headed to my car, wondering if it all had something to do with whatever beeped in Izzy's hand.

**A/N: So, originally, I wasn't going to have the Digimon in this story, but I decided against that, thinking it would make it more interesting. And, I think it will! Sorry it's a little slow right now – it'll pick up, I promise!**

**I love Izzy. Just typing this whole story is making me love him all over again….which is bad, considering I'm 20, and he's eternally 14…eh. –bangs head on desk-**


	4. Chapter 3

**A/N: Hello all! Sorry for the lack of an update…I kind of hit a wall with this story. BUT, I got past it, so here's a new chapter! Thanks for the reviews, the favorites, and the story alerts – greatly appreciated!**

**Chapter 3  
**

Mimi and I didn't speak for half of the car ride on Monday. I had put in a mix of hard rock, entitled "Screamo", hoping she would get the message. She did.

"I'm sorry about Saturday," she said, folding her hands in her lap. I kept my jaw set, looking straight ahead.

"You shoved me out the door."

"I know…" she looked out the window. "I wouldn't have done that had it not been really important."

Silence, except for the screaming of Linkin Park. "You're not going to tell me what it was." I said more as a statement than a question.

"I…I can't." She looked down at her hands. "I honestly can't."

I breathed out rather loudly, turning into the school parking lot. "Fine," I said, slamming the back door shut and walking off toward the school. "I don't need to know, anyways."

"Chloe," she said, chasing after me. I kept walking, opening the door to the school and walking down the hallway. "Chloe!"

I ignored her, reaching my locker. I slammed my book bag down on the ground, shoving my books in harder than normal. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Izzy starting to walk over to me, but Mimi stopped him. They talked for a little bit in Japanese, and then walked off together toward his class. I sighed, shutting my locker. Today was going to be a rough day.

_If you really want to know, stay at my house after school. Izzy and Michael are coming too, just so you know. _

Mimi had stuck the note under my leg during choir, right before we started to warm up. I didn't look at it until chemistry, since I was still mad at her.

My mind started going a hundred miles a minute. What could possibly be going on? And why did Izzy and Michael have to be there? Were they _required_ to be there or something? I didn't quite understand. Of course, it wasn't like I had any idea of what had happened anyways, so not understanding was kind of a given.

Izzy didn't talk to me before or after English. He shifted in his desk a couple of times and looked over at me, but he didn't say anything. When class ended, I went straight up to my locker and grabbed my things, scanning the crowd for Mimi. I didn't have to, though, because she came to me.

"Number one, are you going to talk to me?" She asked, leaning up against Rob Jacobsen's locker. He had already left for the day, so it wasn't a big deal.

"Yeah," I said, slinging my book bag over my shoulder.

"Okay. Number two, do you want to know what happened?"

"Of course I do."

"Okay." She quickly turned around and walked down the hall, grabbing Michael by the arm. On her way back, she grabbed Izzy, who let out a soft 'hey'. "We're going over to my house for that thing we talked about."

"Are you sure we can do this?" Michael asked. "I mean, she's not…you know…one of us. No, that's not what I mean," he said at my shocked expression, putting his hands up. "That's not what I mean at all…you'll understand when we get there."

My eyes flicked to Izzy. He was staring at me, his eyebrows furrowed. What was going on in his head? I wished I could read minds at that point. But, even if I could, he was probably thinking in Japanese, so that wouldn't really help me.

"Okay, then…let's go."

The drive to Mimi's house was tense and quiet. Everyone was staring out their respective windows. It felt like an eternity before I finally pulled into her driveway. We all filed out behind Mimi, who unlocked the door slowly. I assumed she hadn't told her parents we were coming.

"Shh," she said, putting her finger to her lips. We all snuck in the door and up the stairs to her room. She shut the door behind her, leaning up against it.

"Are you sure we can do this?" Michael asked again. "It's not going to mess anything up there, is it?"

"What are you talking about?" I gave him a confused look.

"As long as she holds onto one of us, we should be able to do it." She walked over to her computer, moving the mouse to bring it to life. A program was up – something I had never seen before. It was like a weird black square with a smaller, green square in the middle. There were lights all around it, and what looked like a large button in the right hand corner.

"Oh good, it's open." She leaned up and turned to me, extending her arm. "Hold on to me, and hold on tight."

"What is going on?" I asked, but she was already preoccupied. The three of them pulled small, cross-shaped devices out of their pockets and held them up to the computer screen. Before another word could escape my mouth, I felt every inch of my body being sucked into the computer screen.

Feeling as if every part of me was detached, we traveled through a brightly colored tunnel, seemingly at the speed of light. I knew that wasn't possible, but that's what it felt like. I was reminded of the end of 2001: A Space Odyssey. My God, it's full of stars.

We all landed with a 'thud' onto extremely soft grass. The three of them stood up like the fall had been nothing, like they were used to it. They started brushing themselves up when Mimi extended her hand to me. "Chloe, are you all right?"

"Ow," was all I said. I slowly rose up to a sitting position, shaking out my hair. It was then that I saw where I was.

Or, where I wasn't. I couldn't decide whether or not this was a dream. It felt like a dreamland; I could feel every cell in my body moving. I felt…I felt pixilated. I held my hand in front of my face. It was solid. I looked up at her.

"Where are we?"

"Come on," she said, grabbing my hand and helping me up. "We'll explain along the way."

"Where are we going?"

"The Primary Village."

"O…kay…" We started walking toward a forest. "What's that?"

"Chloe, I don't want you to freak out," Mimi started, letting the boys lead the way. "But you're in a different world."

I stopped dead in my tracks. "What are you talking about?"

"Do you have the feeling that you're…well…pixilated?"

I looked at my hand again. It was still solid. "Yeah. It's like I can feel every cell in my body move."

She smiled. "That's because you _are_ pixilated. You're in the Digital World. Now, come on, I'll keep explaining if you keep walking."

"Okay," I said in a daze. Digital World? Was she high? Did we take some acid or something? Is that why I felt like I was going the speed of light earlier?

But how would I explain the fall from the sky? Unless it was a bad trip, that really happened. This whole thing was happening. If Mimi was right…I _was_ in a different world. I turned my gaze to the trees and saw a strange, red bug thing checking us out.

"Mimi," I whispered, grabbing her arm and pointing up at it. "What the hell is _that_?"

"That is a Kuwagamon. Something else I need to explain. You see…we're the only humans here. The only regular inhabitants of this world are creatures called Digimon. There are millions of them, everywhere you look. Where we're headed is where they're born. They hatch from eggs, and they are the cutest little things you've ever seen." She fell back in stride with me. I was semi-distracted. There were tons of those…Kuwagamon in the trees, just staring at us. My skin began to crawl.

Mimi noticed. "Don't worry about them. They won't hurt us. They're like bees; they won't do anything unless provoked. Here we are," she said, running up to the boys, leaving me in the dust. She turned around and motioned for me to come up. "Come on, Chloe!"

My head was spinning. What the hell was going on? This didn't make any sense. We were in another world, with these creatures that looked like they could snap our heads off staring at us, and they were just walking along, talking and laughing, like nothing weird was happening. I shook my head to rattle my brain a bit, and then caught up with them. We stepped through a clearing into the cutest little area I had ever seen.

"Welcome to Primary Village," Mimi said, gesturing with her hand. "The home of baby Digimon."

"Wow," was all I could say. The whole place looked kid-friendly. There were big, squishy blocks, up like a fence, lining the whole area. Upon walking on the ground, I found it was elastic. In the trees were stuffed animals and various toys. The hills looked squishy as well, like they'd be fun to play on. I just wanted to run up and grab one of the teddy bears and hug it. But, I contained myself. I really wanted to, though.

"Palmon!" Mimi suddenly exclaimed, running forward. The boys ran forward, too, leaving me in the dust. I shrugged and ran with them. A small, green plant thing, a red bug, and a weird green fish thing with an orange fin appeared in the distance.

"Mimi!" The green thing said in a raspy female voice. She extended vines from her arms and wrapped them around Mimi, pulling her into a huge hug. Izzy went up to the red bug and hugged it, and Michael went to the fin thing and bent down, petting its head.

"It's been too long, Tentomon," Izzy said, putting the bug down, and patting it on the head.

"Too long indeed," it said in a wavering voice. Michael and his creature didn't say anything to each other, but it jumped up in his arms, making itself at home.

The green thing tugged on Mimi's shirt, pointing at me with a vine. "Mimi, who is that?"

"This is Chloe, Palmon. She's my best friend from America." She smiled at me. "Chloe, this is Palmon, my partner Digimon."

"What?" I said before thinking. Now they had partners?

"Another thing I need to explain. Michael, Koushiro, and myself are all what's called 'Digidestined'. We were given these Digivices," she pulled out her cross-shaped watch thing, "and were…well…kind of given the task to save the world." The three of them looked at each other with a knowing glance. "Both worlds, actually. The Real world and the Digital world."

"Uhh…okay," I said. "I think I need to sit down."

Mimi walked over to me, putting her hands on my shoulders and slightly pushing me down. "Sit, sit. I know it's a lot to take in." She laughed a little to herself. "The ground's pretty comfortable, actually."

"I've noticed," I said, lying back rather fast. I stared up at the sky, squinting against the sun. This wasn't _real_. It couldn't be real. I was dreaming. I quickly pinched myself. "Ow."

"Chloe, you wanted to know what happened, and here we are. This is real."

The creature Izzy had called Tentomon slowly entered my line of vision.

"Umm…hello," I said, a little frightened.

"Hello," he said, extending a…what was that, a claw? "I'm Tentomon. It's nice to meet you."

"Nice to meet you…too…" I shook his claw limply.

"Tento won't bite," Izzy came over and bent down next to me. "He's really quite friendly."

"I'm not afraid of him biting. His mouth doesn't move when he talks. I'm afraid of the fact that there's creatures all around me, staring at me, looking like they want to eat me."

"We won't eat you," the thing in Michael's arms said. It jumped down and waddled its way over to me. "You are more than welcome in our world. Where is your Digimon?"

I sat up. "I…I don't have one."

The Digimon stopped, each one's eyes growing wide (even Tentomon's eyes grew wide – I thought his face was frozen like that).

"How did you get here?" Palmon asked.

"I held onto Mimi's arm," I said, moving my hair over my shoulder and playing with it nervously. "Did I mess something up?"

"I don't know," she said, shaking her head. "I don't think so, but it's never good to assume something." She put her vines to her chin, stroking it slowly. She then brightened up. "Let's look around here and see if we can find you a partner!"

"I don't think it works that way, Palmon," Mimi replied, shaking her head.

Michael's fish thing poked me in the leg with its claw. "Why_ did_ you come here?"

"Betamon," Michael whispered under his breath with a threatening tone.

"What?" The fish thing, whose name was just revealed to be Betamon, asked. "I was just asking a question."

"Well," I started, "Mimi shoved me out of her house because of something that apparently happened here a few nights ago, and I wanted to know what that was all about."

"Again, sorry about that," Mimi said, putting a hand on my shoulder. "Palmon was in a bit of a jam."

"I got attacked by some of those Kuwagamon over there," she said, pointing to the trees. "There were a bunch of them. I needed Mimi to help me Digivolve to get rid of them."

"Wait, what is that?" I asked, looking from Mimi, to Izzy, to Michael, and back again. "That's definitely a word I don't know."

"The Digimon kind of transform into other Digimon," Izzy said.

"So…he," I pointed at Tentomon, "can become something else?"

Izzy nodded. "Right now, he is in his rookie form. His next form is Kabuterimon, and that is his champion form. He has an ultimate form, but he can't get to that one anymore."

"Why can't he do that anymore?"

"We had to give up our crests," Mimi said, patting Palmon on the head. She looked sad. "The crests, combined with our Digivices, were what allowed them to Digivolve into their ultimate form."

Tentomon sighed. "It's a shame, too. Megakabuterimon was pretty awesome."

Izzy laughed. "Yes, he was." He gave Tentomon a noogie. "But you're pretty awesome yourself."

"Thanks." Tentomon looked up at Izzy. I assumed he was smiling. It wasn't like you could really tell.

"Well, we should really be getting back," Michael said, checking his Digivice. I guess they had clocks on them.

"Why?" I asked, looking around, trying to take it all in again. "We haven't been here that long."

"We've been here about a half an hour," Izzy said, looking down at his Digivice. "Do you have something to do, Michael?"

"I, uh…" He rubbed the back of his neck. "I actually have a date."

"A DATE?" Mimi yelled really loud. She shot me a look.

I gave her a look of 'what-are-you-looking-at-me-for,-I-don't-like-him-like-that.' "With who?"

"Her name is Melanie. She goes to school in Manhattan." He blushed, looking incredibly embarrassed.

Mimi grabbed his arms in excitement. "Well, good for you! We definitely should get back so you can prettify yourself."

"Prettify?" Michael asked with a giggle. Izzy shook his head, trying to suppress a laugh.

"Yes, prettify." She smacked him on the shoulder. "Douche."

Michael stuck his tongue out at her, and then started off in the direction we came.

"Well, it was…umm…nice to meet all of you," I said nervously, not sure what else to say. "Maybe I'll see you again."

Palmon looked up at the sky. "I don't seem to feel anything wrong, so you can probably come back at any time."

"Thanks," I said with a weak smile. I didn't really see a point in coming back, since I didn't have a Digimon. I'd just be a 4th wheel. I suddenly felt really sad as I followed the three through the forest. These guys probably had all of these cool experiences together – especially Mimi and Izzy. I mean, they had access to a completely different world, filled with animal-type things that talked. _Talked._

"Today is our lucky day, guys!" Mimi said as she stopped walking. The other two were blocking my view, so I couldn't see what they were looking at. "Both portals have been open." She pushed through the two guys and grabbed my arm. "Hold onto me again." She dragged me back up front, and I saw what they were looking at.

"Umm…that's a TV."

"Precisely," she said, sticking out her Digivice. The other two did the same, and, once again, we traveled through that crazy tunnel. I felt every inch of me become somewhat numb as my body de-pixilated. I wondered how fast we were actually going. I mean, we couldn't honestly be traveling at the speed of light. That's how the Flash died. And, if the Flash couldn't even go the speed of light, there was no way we could be going that fast.

I laughed at my thought process. I was such a nerd.

We landed in a heap on Mimi's floor. Lucky for the other three, I landed on the bottom of everyone. And, lucky for me (or not so lucky for me, I couldn't decide), Izzy landed directly on top of me.

'Awkward', I thought as we caught each other's gaze. His eyes lingered on me a little too long. I felt my face turn into a cherry. He cleared his throat and quickly got up, his cheeks growing red as well. He offered his hand to me to help me up. I took it, trying my best to get myself up. He turned out to be rather strong, pulling me up for the most part. He avoided my eyes the entire time.

"Oh no," Michael said.

"What?" We all asked in unison.

"How am I getting home?"

"Oh, same here," Izzy said, still avoiding my eyes. "How am I going to get home?"

Mimi eyed me. I sighed. "I'll drive you guys."

"Do you want gas money?" Michael started digging in his pockets for his wallet. I put my hand up.

"No need. You don't live that far from here, right?"

He shook his head. "Not too far. I live close to the school."

"I'm staying-" Izzy started.

I interrupted him. "I know where Eli's house is."

"Oh, okay." He finally looked at me. His dark eyes had a sort of sadness to them. Once again, I wanted to crawl inside his brain and see what he was thinking. I hoped beyond hope that he was thinking about me in a positive light…but, judging by his expression, he wasn't.

"I'll come with, just because." Mimi said, grabbing her purse from her bed. She put her finger to her lips again and inched her door open. The three of us tiptoed down the stairs and out the door.

"What shall we listen to?" I asked when we all got in the car. I put down my visor to show Mimi the CDs I currently had in my car. She selected my mix entitled "Heartless", which featured (wow, big surprise) "Heartless" by Kanye West. Kanye West is an asshole, but I like a couple of his songs. And, by a couple, I mean, like, three. Mimi rapped the entire thing, with me joining in on the chorus. I knew the whole song, but I wanted to hear her rap. It's rather hilarious seeing a small little Japanese girl trying to be ghetto. Of course, I'm not much better. I'm actually one of the whitest people on the planet. I discovered how truly white I was after I grew out of my rap faze I had from the fourth to the seventh grade.

The next song on the mix was "I Don't Care" by Fall Out Boy. I turned it up slightly. I stole a glance in the rearview mirror. I saw Izzy mouthing the words. I was impressed; I could barely understand Patrick Stump. I just liked the way his voice sounded.

I dropped Michael off first. He handed me a five-dollar bill. I tried to refuse it, but he persisted so much that I had to accept it. I stuck it in my pocket, thanking him profusely. I was supposed to give the gas money to my dad, but I knew I'd end up spending it coffee or something. I rarely had money to spend on something other than school lunch.

As I rounded the corner toward Eli's house, my hands started to shake. I really hoped he wasn't outside or anything. In the middle of "My Chick Bad" by Ludacris (which Mimi was really getting into), I flipped it to track 15, which was "Soul" by Matchbox Twenty.

"Hey!" Mimi said, glaring at me. "I was getting into that."

"I noticed," Izzy said from the back seat. He was smirking. Mimi reached back and slapped at him.

I pulled up into Eli's driveway, parking behind his red Neon.

"I'm sorry, Chloe, but I don't have any money to give you…"

I turned around and waved it off. "It's fine, Izzy. Don't worry about it."

He smiled. "Thank you for taking me back."

I smiled back at him. His smile grew bigger. I blushed a little. He had such a nice smile. He climbed out of the car and made his way up to the house. I decided to stay in the driveway to make sure someone answered the door.

Someone did.

It was Eli.

He talked to Izzy for a little bit, and then looked directly at me.

"Shit," I said audibly. Mimi tried to steady my hands, which were now visibly trembling, but it didn't work. I threw the car in reverse and backed out of the driveway as quickly as possible. As I drove away, I saw him let Izzy in and watch me from the doorway.

"Shit, shit, shit!" I hit the steering wheel a couple of times. Mimi shut the radio off.

"Scream. Get it all out."

I let out a very loud, frustrated noise. I could feel tears prick my eyes. "Why did he have to see me? I was really hoping he wouldn't see me." I sighed. "He's probably going to tell Izzy to not hang out with me now."

"Koushiro's rather stubborn. He'll decide who to hang out with himself."

"I sure hope so." I turned off of Jefferson onto Mimi's road.

A smile crept up on her face. "What?" I asked.

"You like Koushiro."

"Mims, I've known him for a week."

She shook her head, looking over at me. "Doesn't matter. You like him. Admit it."

I sighed again. "Okay, fine. I do like him. You have to swear not to say anything."

"I won't say a word." She made a zipping motion on her lips.

"Not even in Japanese?"

"Not even in Japanese."

I pulled up into her driveway. "Thank you, for everything today."

"You're welcome, Chloe. We'll have to go back to the Digital World, just you and me sometime. It's a really cool place."

"I'm sure."

"See you tomorrow morning," she said as she got out of the car. Once she walked up to her door, I turned the radio back on, starting "Soul" over again and singing it the whole way home.

"But you don't worry, you don't worry, 'cause you've got soul…"

**A/N: Yeah, this chapter is long. Sorry about that – I couldn't really figure out where to end it. Hope you liked it! Next chapter should be up soon, since I'm on Christmas break.**


	5. Chapter 4

**A/N: Hello again! Hope all is going well. I'm doing all right myself, thanks for asking (haha). **

**On with the chapter!**

**Chapter 4**

As the end of September rolled around, I found myself becoming more and more attached to Izzy. I had known him for all of a month, but I could tell my feelings for him were getting stronger. He and I talked in the mornings, between classes, at lunch, and during English. We really only talked about school, and sometimes he would talk about things that were over my head (pretty much anything to do with Physics), but I would listen and at least try to comprehend. I began to realize just how smart he really was. Him and Mimi were basically on the same academic level…of which I was not. That was why Mimi and I rarely talked about academics – she was so much smarter than I was.

But, no matter how hard I tried; I could never find him after school. Mimi even joined me in the search one afternoon, but we couldn't find him. I swear, we looked all over that damn school. It was as if he just disappeared and reappeared in the mornings. It was bizarre.

"Where do you disappear to after school?" I asked him one morning. I started to pick Mimi up earlier just so I could talk to him longer. She complained until she realized why I was doing it. After that, she just smirked at me every time she walked past me to her locker.

"Library," he said, putting his books in his locker. "I found a little area in it that I can sit in and play on my computer while I wait for Eli to get done with football practice."

"Oh." No wonder we couldn't find him. We only looked at the tables in the front of the library, not in the aisles or anything like that.

"Why?"

"Just curious," I said, taking out my books and shutting my locker.

"Are you going to the football game this Friday?" He asked, taking his own books out of his locker.

"I wasn't really planning on it…"

"It's…umm…homecoming? Is that what it's called?"

I nodded. "Yeah, it is. I'm not a big football person."

"Oh," he said. He sounded a little let down. "I'm being forced by the Parkers to go see Eli play, and I was wondering-"

"Whatcha talkin' about?" Mimi suddenly appeared, putting her arms around both of our shoulders.

"Homecoming," I responded flatly.

"Oh, yeah! That's this weekend, isn't it?" Izzy and I nodded. "I think we should go, Chlo. We haven't been to a football game yet this year. Plus, it's homecoming. You're going, right, Koushiro?"

He nodded again. "I'm being forced to."

"Want some company?"

His eyes grew wide. "Would you really?" He looked at me instead of Mimi.

I sighed, rolling my eyes. "Fine, I'll go." Honestly, the idea of sitting through a football game in 50-degree weather was not my ideal way to spend a Friday night. But, spending it with Izzy…maybe it wouldn't be so bad.

"Great!" Mimi said with excitement. "It's a date!"

The warning bell sounded. "Got to go," Izzy said, ducking under Mimi's arm and scurrying off to his first class. I couldn't really tell, but I thought I saw his face turn beet red.

"Did you have to say date?" I said.

"Don't worry," she said, reaching up and ruffling my hair. "I think he was going to ask you to the game when I interrupted."

"Mimi!"

She laughed as she went down the hallway. "See you in choir!"

* * *

"You really think he was going to ask me?" I asked as Mimi sat down next to me in choir. Mr. Moreau was nowhere in sight. No one was taking advantage of this fact, since if we moved from our assigned seats, and he caught us, he would probably freak out on us and start swearing in German. He was fluent in German. He had been the German teacher as well as the choir teacher for years. He decided a year before to drop German and focus solely on music, since it was where his passion truly was.

Mimi nodded. "Yeah, he was. I caught the tail end of what he said. He said, 'I was wondering' before I interrupted." She smiled. "Totally going to ask you to the game."

"Do you think…do you think he likes me?"

She shrugged. "No idea."

"Would you tell me if you knew?"

Her smile turned evil. "Maybe."

I smacked her on the shoulder. "You are so mean!"

She flipped her hair behind her shoulder. "All in a day's work, my dear. All in a day's work."

* * *

"It sure is cold," Mimi said as we walked from the school parking lot to the football stadium. It was just across the street, but the street itself was rather large. She was dressed in a cute pink t-shirt with a star on it and flare jeans with a pair of black heels. She was wearing a tight black zip up hoodie on top of it. Why she was wearing heels in a place where we'd have to run across the street and climb up bleachers, I will never know.

"Yeah," I said, not really feeling the cold as much. I was wearing a rather thick black zip-up hoodie on top of my purple t-shirt with a multi-colored moose on it.

Yeah, that's right. A multi-colored moose. It's a pretty sweet shirt. Got it at Old Navy for 8 bucks.

"You're awful quiet." She linked her arm in mine. "You're nervous, aren't you?"

"How could you tell?"

"I just know these things." The chorus to a j-rock song rang from Mimi's pocket. She took out her cell phone and answered it with a 'Konbanwa, Koushiro-san'. I immediately tensed up. She proceeded to talk in Japanese with him for a little bit, and then suddenly switched to English.

"Yeah, well, Chloe is with me, and I don't think she'd want to sit with Eli's parents. Right, Chloe?"

I gave her a dirty look as we approached the gate. We both gave the nice man our three dollars for the tickets, and then walked in. "I'll take the glare she just gave me as a no. So, meet us down by the gate?" She stopped, putting her hand on her hip. She responded back in Japanese, sounding angry. Her tone of voice grew louder and louder until she was practically yelling. She then went silent. She turned around and hung up her phone, walking over to the bleachers in a huff. I hesitated for a bit, but followed her. Mimi mad was a rather scary occurrence.

"You're really annoying, you know that?" I heard Mimi say to Izzy as I caught up to her. Even in heels, she was faster than I was. Jealousy.

"Sorry," he said, rubbing the back of his neck. "It was hard getting away from Eli's family." He paused, apparently realizing I was there. "Oh, hi, Chloe."

I smiled weakly. "Hi."

He stared at me for a few seconds, and then turned his attention to Mimi. "So, where are we sitting?"

Mimi pointed to the top of the bleachers. "All the way up there. No one ever bothers to go up there, and it's a great view."

"You just want to look at the football players' asses," I said with a smirk. She shifted her eyes back and forth.

"I never said I didn't."

Izzy and I laughed as we followed her up the stairs. His laugh was so cute; it made me blush a little bit. I prayed to God that he didn't notice. I also prayed to God that he wouldn't notice that I was slightly out of breath by the time we reached the top.

"All right," Mimi said as we claimed our seats - me next to Mimi, and Izzy on her other side. "I'm going to go get a pretzel. Anyone want anything?"

I shot her a 'you-suck-monkey-balls' look. "Yeah, get me a soda, will you?"

"What kind?"

I gestured in the air. "I don't care. Anything."

She raised her eyebrows at me, and then turned to Izzy. "How about you?"

He shook his head. "Nothing for me."

"All right. Be right back." She took off down the stairs, her heels clacking loudly on the metal steps.

"So…" Izzy started, looking out at the field. The players were starting their first play. I was really hoping he wasn't going to ask me about how to play football, because I honestly had no idea. My dad was the one who liked football. No matter how hard he tried to "get through to me", as he would say, I could never latch onto the game. I knew there were downs, and that a touchdown was 6 points, and then they got some sort of field goal or something for making a touchdown…but, other than that, I just watched for the tight pants. "What is there to do at a high school American football game?"

I laughed a little bit. "Well, there's watching the game, eating food, and hanging out and talking with your friends." I shrugged. "That's about it. I personally don't like football all that much."

"Me either. I'm more of a…well…football person." He paused for a second. "What do you call it here again? It just flew out of my mind."

"Soccer," I said with a smile.

"Yes! That's it. Soccer." He scratched his head, sighing. "I always have trouble with that one."

I nodded in understanding. We sat silent for a little bit. I squinted, trying to see the backs of the jerseys. There he was; number 42. The answer to the meaning of life. I wondered if Eli had done that on purpose. After all, we read _Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy _together.

"This may be a random question, but it's one I've never asked you before." Izzy turned and looked at me. "Where do you want to go to university?"

"Oh, I'm applying to CUNY Brooklyn College and NYU. I really want to get into CUNY for the radio and TV program." I flipped some of my hair behind my shoulder. "What about you?"

"Well, that's the thing," he said, his attention going to his shoes. "I'm trying to decide between Columbia and Todai."

"Todai? Is that in Japan?"

"Sorry, University of Tokyo. We just call it 'Todai'."

"Gotcha. What's determining your decision?"

"Depends on whether or not I get into Todai, and how my experience here is as to whether or not I want to go back to Japan for school."

"Well, how is it so far?"

He looked out on the field, a smile creeping up on his face. "It's been wonderful so far."

"I'm baaaack!" Mimi said triumphantly, cradling three Pepsi bottles under her arm while carrying her pretzel with cheese. "I know you said you didn't want anything, Koushiro, but I decided to get you a Pepsi. Hope you don't mind."

He shook his head. "Not at all. Arigatou, Mimi-san."

"Do itashi mashite." She said as she sat in between the two of us. "I hope I wasn't interrupting anything."

"We were just talking about university," Izzy said.

"Koushiro! Total mood killer!"

"What? I hadn't asked her about it before. Anyway, Mimi," he cleared his throat, "this is something we haven't discussed, either."

"What, university?"

He nodded. "Where are you planning to go?"

"Brown, Columbia, or Harvard. I really want to go to Brown, though."

"Aww, no Todai?"

Mimi shook her head. "No, no Todai."

"Not even for Jou?"

She hesitated. "No…even though I wouldn't mind seeing him every day again, no."

"Todai's a really big school…unless you're going pre-med, you wouldn't see him very often."

"That's what I'm going for, smart one." She smirked at him, flipping her hair back behind her shoulder. "So I'd see him quite a bit."

"I didn't know you were going for pre-med."

"How about you, Izzy?" I asked. "What are you going for?"

"Computer sciences. Possibly engineering."

That made total sense. I remembered back to our first real conversation, where he said he would have been on his computer for hours if he had taken it out of its case. I wondered how much time he spent on it at Eli's house…and what he could possibly be doing on the computer for hours on end.

"Hey, do you have a Facebook?"

"I do," he answered. "Do you?"

I nodded. "There are very few high school and college students these days who don't have one."

"True." He rubbed the back of his neck. "You should…umm…you should add me."

"Are you on Mimi's friend list?"

"Duh," Mimi said, taking her attention away from the game. "Of course he is. He's my bestie, remember?" She whipped out her phone and got online, somehow. I still didn't understand how phones could have the internet on them. Remember the good old days, when phones were just used to call people?

Me neither. Oh well.

"See?" She leaned over and put her phone in my face. "Here he is."

And there he was. Koushiro Izumi. His profile picture was of him and another guy with ridiculously bushy brown hair. His friend was cute, too...but nowhere near Izzy. He had everything but his birthday blocked off.

Smart guy.

I smirked to myself. 'I already knew that.'

"Okay," I said, looking up at Mimi, and then over at Izzy. "I'll have to add you when I get home."

"No." Mimi basically threw her phone at me. "It will happen now."

"Settle down, tiger." Luckily, I had used the internet on her phone a few times, so I wasn't a complete n00b at it. I logged out of her account, logged into mine, went on her list, found him, and added him. I then logged out of my account and thrust the phone back in her hands. "There you go. Happy now?"

"Not yet," she said. Her eyes had an evil glint to them. "Koushiro, your turn." She handed him her phone.

I wanted to smack her.

"Umm...all right." He did his thing, and then gave the phone back to her. "I guess we are officially friends now."

"I'm so glad I could help," Mimi said, putting her arms around our shoulders. "I love that my two best friends are friends. It makes my life happy."

I leaned up to her ear. "I'm going to kill you," I whispered through gritted teeth. She giggled.

"You love me too much."

"No. No, I don't."

"Yes, you do. Oooh, look at Michael! He's looking good!"

Izzy and I exchanged glances, and both started laughing. His laugh got to me, and I started blushing slightly. I noticed Mimi looking at me from the corner of her eyes, the left side of her mouth pulling up a little bit. I nudged her and shook my head a bit. She giggled.

"I'm going to enjoy this."

"I'm going to kill you."

**A/N: Hee hee! Cuteness! Sorry this took so long – I a) hit a wall, and b) had to finish college. I graduated a few days ago. It was pretty awesome. But now...real life starts.**

**SCARY SCARY SCARY**

**Oh well. It had to start at some point. Now I just have to get a job, get a new car, get a new laptop, move out, blah blah blah.**

**Soooooooooooo more time to write! WOOOOO**

**Love you guys. You guys rock.**


	6. Chapter 5

**A/N: ****I HAVE RETURNED WITH A LONG-ASS CHAPTER. HA. BOUT DAMN TIME.**  


**Chapter 5**

The sun in the Digital World was pretty much the most awesome thing ever ever ever ever. I could lay out for hours on end and not turn a single shade of pink. I loved the warm feeling on my skin. It made me feel amazing.

Mimi and I were laying out in Primary Village one dreary day in November. It was sleeting in the Real World, but here? A comfortable 72 degrees and sunny.

"That one looks like Palmon," I said, pointing up at the fluffy clouds. "Don't you think that looks like Palmon?"

Mimi giggled. "I think it looks like Minnie Mouse."

I sat up on my elbows and glared at her, squinting from both the sun and my hair in my face. "Minnie Mouse?"

She nodded. "Yeah. There's bows and shit."

"You're silly." I leaned my head back, soaking up the pixelated sun.

"So..." Mimi started.

"Uh...so...?"

"I've been doing some thinking about this...and...I think we need to talk about you and Koushiro."

I groaned in annoyance. She tried to talk with me about it every chance she got – and it was normally just to tease me about it. "Mims, come on."

"No, seriously. I think we need to talk about this." There was something different in her voice when she said this. I couldn't quite place it.

I sighed, rolling over on my stomach and putting my head between my crossed arms. "Okay. Fine. What now?"

"How...umm...how attached are you to him?"

My head popped up. "Wait...what?"

"How attached are you to Koushiro?"

"What are you talking about?"

"Well..." She rolled over on her side. "He's headed back to Odaiba over Christmas break-"

"Yeah, I know." I had asked him what his plans were, hoping that he would be here for the two week break. He told me he was headed back to Japan to spend time with his family and friends. I tried to sound thrilled for him, but I was trying so hard that everything I said came out incredibly valley girl instead of sincere. _"Oh my Gaaaawd, Izzy, that's so, like, totally tubular!"_

...I didn't actually say 'totally tubular', but you get the idea.

The thing about it was, though, when he told me this, he stared at his shoes the entire time. He didn't look at me once, not even when he left at the end of the day. And, when he was talking, there was a bit of sadness in his voice.

Did I wonder? Of course I wondered. I was an 18 year old girl who was head over heels for a 17 year old boy. I wanted him to notice me. I wanted him to like me. I wanted him to...oh.

Oh.

_Oh._

"I'm not incredibly attached to him."

Lie.

"I mean, he's my friend, and yeah, I like him...but I'm not obsessed with him or anything."

Not true.

"I just want to talk to him while he's here and be his friend. Nothing more."

Falsity.

She was silent. That worried me. Mimi was never silent.

"Mimi..." No answer. She just kept staring at me. I started to fidget. "Come on. Say something. Anything."

"He's headed to Japan over break to apply for Todai."

I nodded. "That makes sense. I figured you'd have to apply there instead of online or something."

She stared at me again. "Jesus, Mimi, what is your deal?"

"If he gets in...he's most likely going to go there."

I figured as much. But, even though I knew that, I still had a sliver of hope that he would end up going to Columbia, or that he would at least still consider it if he got into Todai. Yeah, it was totally selfish of me to want him to stay in the US, but it wasn't like I was going to beg him to stay or anything. It was his life, and he could do his own thing. I just hoped his own thing was what I wanted it to be.

"I understand that...Mimi, what are you getting at?"

"Chloe, I know how you feel about him-"

I rolled my eyes. "Come on, Mimi, don't-"

She put her hand up. "No, let me finish, please."

I admitted defeat, sighed, and nodded for her to continue. "Even though I tease you about it all of the time, I know how you feel about him. I can see you getting more and more attached every time we're around him. I just don't want you to be hurt if he does choose to go back to Japan. Getting into Todai is a seriously big deal. It's something kids work toward all of their lives, and I know Koushiro definitely has. He wants it so bad."

"If he goes back, I'll be all right." Nope. I'd shed more tears than necessary. It would serve me right; falling for the brilliant, driven Japanese exchange student. But, honestly, could it have been helped? Could I have stopped it?

And, if Mimi could see it, was it obvious to him that I liked him? Or was he completely oblivious? I thought about asking Mimi in that moment, but I held back. I didn't want to know if he knew. I'd be mortified.

"I don't know if you would be," Mimi started, her voice hesitant. She knew she was treading in dangerous waters. "I mean, I remember how it was freshman year, with Eli, and...oh, Chloe, don't. I didn't meant to..."

Tears just started pouring out. "You just had to bring that up, didn't you?"

"Chloe, I'm sorry-"

"Please don't equate this situation to the situation with Eli. That is completely uncalled for. It's nothing like that."

"No, it's not. It's nothing like that. Eli's a douche bag, and Koushiro definitely is not. All I'm saying is I know your heart, and I know how fragile it is, and I don't want to see you be broken if he does decide to go back."

I wiped the tears off of my cheeks and laid back down, closing my eyes to block out both the sun and Mimi. "So...what are you saying? Are you saying I should stop liking him?"

She was quiet again. I opened my mouth to protest when a small "yes" came from her.

"Mimi, that's not easy for me to do."

"I know it's not." I felt her curl up beside me and rest her head on my shoulder. I really didn't want to be touched in that moment, but I didn't feel like pushing her, either. "I've liked Jou since I was 10 years old. He didn't tell me he was interested in me until I was leaving for America. I tried for years to get him out of my head, but it never worked." She sighed, her voice dropping to a whisper. "It still hasn't worked."

"Wait, what?" This was the first time I had heard about an issue with Jou.

"No one knows about this, because everyone basically thinks that we're together...but we're not. We're not together. We never have been. And now..." she sniffed a bit. "Now, there's Sasaki."

News to me. "Sasaki?"

She nodded into the crook of my neck. The rosy smell of her shampoo floated up to my nose. "Yeah. He met her at university. She's a first year pre-med student, just like him. He won't really talk about her with me, probably because he knows that I still like him, but whenever he does, it's like there's a sharp pain in my chest." I felt a little wetness on my skin. "So I know how hard it is to stop liking someone, Chloe. I completely understand it. I'm trying. I'm trying so hard, because I know it's something I have to do to. All I want for him is to be happy, and if this...if she is what will make him happy, then so be it."

I pulled her into a tight hug, just letting her cry. "Mims, why didn't you tell me this?"

"I was going to, but then Koushiro showed up, and I didn't want him to know about her, since Jou asked me to not tell any of our friends. So, I just kept my mouth shut on the subject all together."

"Honey, I'm sorry..."

"I just don't want you to be in my situation, Chloe. It hurts like hell, and I don't want you to go through it. It might be better just to try and...try and let him go, before you get too deep."

I sighed. "I'll try."

Too late for that. I did everything I could to keep my own tears in as I rubbed Mimi's back, letting her softly cry into me. I had put so many barriers up after the whole thing with Eli. I wasn't interested in anyone. I didn't _let _myself become interested in anyone because a part of me figured that they would treat me just like he did. I had them up when I met Izzy, and they slowly crumbled as I got to know him. Brick by brick, they came down, until there was nothing left. Now, I had to build them back up, brick by freaking brick.

This was going to be a blast.

* * *

"Good morning, Chloe," Izzy said with a smile as I walked over to my locker. His smile faded slightly as he looked behind me. "Where's Mimi?"

"Mimi's sick," I said, casting my eyes down a bit. She wasn't really sick – she just didn't feel like going to school that day. So, she pulled a Ferris Bueller and convinced her parents that she was sick. How she did that, I will never know. I could never get my dad to believe me when I was faking being sick. 'Man, college is going to be awesome,' I thought as I started putting my books away. 'I don't have to fake being sick. I can just skip. That'll freaking rock.'

I was mad at her for skipping this particular day, but I was holding out hope that she had something up her sleeve. Knowing her, it was incredibly possible.

"She is? Today?" His eyebrows came together. "Is she okay?"

I tried to keep a straight face, but then started giggling. "No need for concern, Izzy. She's fine. She just felt like skipping."

"Oh." He put his books away and then turned to me. "I guess we're on our own today, then?"

I felt my cheeks start to get hot, but then I heard Mimi's voice in my head. It needed to stop. I nodded, hoping that my smile didn't look too forced. "Yeah, I guess so."

"Wonderful." The warning bell went off. "Well, I have to get to class. I will talk to you later." He took a few steps, and then turned around. "Oh, and happy birthday, Chloe." With a little wave and a huge smile, he went off to his first class, leaving me standing in the hallway, trying to figure out how in the hell I was going to get him out of my system.

'He remembered.'

* * *

After I picked up my lunch tray (grilled cheese today – or "brick cheese", as we all called it) and sat down in our usual spot, I realized that no one else was there with me. No Jessie. No Miranda. No Mimi (obviously).

And no Izzy.

I looked all around me, even standing up to look over everyone's heads to see if any of them were coming over here.

Nothing.

I was all alone.

On my birthday.

I thought about it, and realized I hadn't seen Jessie or Miranda in choir. I guessed they were sick, or "sick", today, too.

But, Izzy? He was here. I talked to him that morning. He said 'happy birthday.' I knew he was here. Where did he go?

'All right,' I thought as I started pushing the middle out of my overcooked grilled cheese, 'I'll wait 5 minutes. If he doesn't show...well...I'll go eat by the auditorium.'

I already didn't like eating in public; I always felt like people's eyes were on me, judging my every move and every bite. 'Oh, she shouldn't be eating that.' 'Wow, she's eating so much!' 'Look at that huge bite! How disgusting.' But, if there was one thing I hated more than that, it was eating alone in public. It brought more attention to me and my plate.

I sneakily pulled my cell phone out of my pocket and checked the time. It had been 2 minutes. Taking one last look around, I sighed, picked up the stupid tray, and walked down the stairs to the doorway by the auditorium. I sunk down on the floor and started picking at the butter-soaked bread.

Footsteps made me look up. "Izzy, where have you been?" I said before I had even laid eyes on him. I flashed him a big smile.

One problem.

It wasn't him.

"...Oh," I said softly, locking eyes with the one and only Eli Parker. Some pixie-like redhead had her arms locked around his neck. She was nibbling on his ear, giggling like a...well, like a school girl. Her eyes shifted over to me. Her nose crinkled up in disgust.

Right back at you, bitch.

"Uhh...sorry," he mumbled, taking the girl's arms from his neck, grabbing her hand, and practically pulling her arm out of its socket to get her quickly into the men's room.

"Wow," I said to myself when the door shut. "Classy." I shook my head with a sad smile and went back to my greasy food. Oh, how the mighty had fallen.

I popped a small bite of brick in my mouth. Ugh. The bread was way too buttery and way too salty for my taste. I hated throwing food away, since there were starving children in Africa, but I was pretty sure this was just inedible. I stabbed one of the perfect cubes of red Jell-o with my spork, totally disregarding the "sandwich." I took out my cell phone. 2 minutes again.

I moved my stupid styrofoam tray back and forth, trying to distract myself from worrying about Izzy and thinking about how alone I was. Didn't work. I was sitting outside of the auditorium, playing with my lunch because I only had four friends, and they were all invisible. On my birthday.

_ Watch it wiggle, see it jiggle. J-E-L-L-O._

I blinked out a tear.

* * *

"Where did you run off to?" I asked Izzy when he sat down next to me in English. He looked super worn out. I knew 7 hours of classes could make one tired, but he must have done something to make those dark circles pop up.

"Computer lab." He shifted in is seat. "Working on my Todai application. Typing in Japanese on an American keyboard is quite a daunting task."

"I bet." I tucked some of my hair behind my ear to get it out of my face. "What with all of the characters and all."

"If I could just type everything in hiragana, it wouldn't be that tricky, but changing it to the proper kanji and katakana...annoying." The way he pronounced "hiragana" made me melt a bit. I had always thought it was a beautiful word, but to hear it from a native speaker...oh my goodness. I put the hair that I had tucked behind my ear back in front of my face to hide my blush. Soon enough, Mr. Jones passed out a writing prompt, and we all went to work.

'What are you doing?' I asked myself as I worked on yet another AP essay to satisfy Mr. Jones' sick obsession with making his students suffer. 'Why are you putting yourself through this? Stop liking him. Just stop. Stop.' I cleared my throat, trying to focus on my essay. 'Now...what does "My mother is a fish" mean in the context of _As I Lay Dying_? How the FUCK should I know? It's Faulkner.' I stole a glance at Izzy. He was chewing on his eraser, obviously deep in thought. I looked back at my paper before Jonesy thought I was cheating, but not before noticing how nice Izzy's handwriting was. It was as if he practiced it to perfection. Well, he probably had. I wanted to see him write in Japanese to see what his penmanship looked like in his first language. I silently hoped it was as sloppy as my English chicken scratch.

The bell shocked me out of my thought process. I looked down at my paper. A wild Essay appeared. I scanned it. It made no sense, but hey, neither did 'My mother is a fish' to me. Seemed legit. I gave it to Mr. Jones with a smile. He smiled back.

I may have been basically in love with Izzy, but Mr. Jones' nerdy smile still managed to make me giddy. I quickly turned around and ran right into Izzy.

"Chloe," he said, putting his hand on my shoulder as if to slow me down. He didn't fall down (thank goodness), but he looked a little surprised. "In a hurry to leave?"

"...No..." I said, looking down at his hand. "I'm just...no, I'm not."

He put his hand down and smiled. "Good." He turned his essay into Mr. Jones and walked out of the classroom with me. "I'm not, either."

"Aren't the Parkers getting you?"

"They don't have to," he said over his shoulder as he climbed the stairs. Damn. They don't make them like that in America. "I can call Mrs. Parker and tell her a friend will take me home."

The corners of my mouth went up a bit. "'A friend' meaning me?"

He shrugged as we went toward our lockers. "Well, I can't drive in the States...and you're the only person with a car I know. Besides Eli."

I opened my locker and then looked around at the sea of students. "Was Eli even here today?"

Izzy shook his head. "No, he was sick."

"Sick? Or is he 'sick', like everyone else today?" I did air quotations. He laughed.

"No, he's actually sick. He woke me up several times blowing his nose and coughing."

"Eew." I stared at the inside of my locker, trying to figure out what I needed to take home homework wise. It was really hard when he was so close to me. My brain was getting foggy.

'Stop. Stop. Stop. Stop.'

"Yes, it was rather gross." He opened up his locker and started moving stuff around in it. "So, would you be interested in driving me home?"

I peeked around my locker door at him. "Am I just driving you home?"

"Well..." he suddenly seemed to get shy. "it doesn't necessarily have to happen that way."

"So...you want to hang out with me?"

"Why not? It would be fun, and it is your birthday, after all."

I bit the inside of my lip so hard that I could have sworn I tasted blood. I didn't want my oncoming smile to eat my face. He wanted to hang out with me. Me. Just me. Never mind that I was the only person he knew with a car (which yeah, I know, shut up), he was going to call Mrs. Parker and tell her a friend was going to take him home. I was a friend. A friend he wanted to hang out with. Just the two of us.

This whole idea was not helping things. "Okay," I started, closing my locker and throwing the strap of my bag over my shoulder, "what would you like to do?"

"Hmm..." He leaned up against his locker, looking deep in thought. After some time, he snapped his fingers. "Let's go to your house."

I choked on invisible water. He was a guy who wasn't my father. Why the hell would he come to my house? "M-my house?"

"Yeah. Let's go to your house. We can hang out there."

My blood was coursing through my veins like a driver at a Nascar race (AKA stupid fast). What was there to do at my house? There was the TV, my movie collection, the vast world of the internet - which I was sure would entertain him just fine - and...

My mind went to places it really shouldn't have. I furiously blushed and hid behind my locker door, moving some books around loudly to make it seem like I was looking for something. I needed a few moments to calm down.

"I'll have to call my dad," I said from behind the door. "Just to make sure it's okay and everything."

"I understand," he said. "Do you...do you need help finding anything?"

"No! No, I'm okay." I threw my French book in my bag and put it over my shoulder. "Let's um...go, I guess."

He smiled. "Sounds good." He took off down the hall toward the parking lot.

I fumbled for my cell phone. My hands were shaking. I got it out of my pocket finally, dialed my dad, and followed Izzy out of the building.

"Hey, Chlo," Dad said cheerfully. "Happy birthday!"

He hadn't had a chance to say it to me this morning and, even though he texted it to me earlier that morning, it still meant a lot for him to say it. Birthdays were always a little tricky for both of us after mom died, but it seemed to affect him more than me. "Thanks dad. Hey, question for you."

"Shoot."

"Umm...Izzy wants to come over?"

He paused. "Like, Boy Izzy?"

"Yeah, Boy Izzy. He wants to come over. Is it okay if I bring him over? I'd have to take him home, but it wouldn't be too late."

Silence on the other end. 'Shit,' I thought. 'He won't go for it. Come on, Dad. Don't blow this for me.'

"Yeah, I guess that's all right," he said. I closed my eyes and mouthed a silent yes. "Just use protection."

"DAD!" I yelled. Some of the freshmen in front of me turned around. I smiled and waved at them. Turn around, freshies. "Stop it!"

He laughed on the other end. "Kidding, kidding." He paused again. "But, seriously. If it happens, use it."

I opened the door out to the parking lot. "You're gross."

"I remember being that age."

"GROSS." I stuck out my tongue. Izzy saw me and smirked. Hot. I stuck my tongue out at him, too. "Okay, well, we'll be there soon. Love you."

"Love you too, Chlo. Be careful."

"Will do. Bye." I hung up the phone and turned my attention to Izzy. He was staring at me. "We got the okay." He smiled, but continued to stare. "What's up?"

"I have no idea where your car is."

We both started laughing. "Follow me," I said, waving my arm as we walked down the long parking lot aisle toward my Cavalier.

Izzy and I talked and laughed at the beginning of the drive to my house. As we got closer, however, he grew more and more quiet, ceasing speech by the time we drove into my driveway. I turned off the car and looked over at him. He looked nervous - almost as nervous as I was (there was about to be a cute boy that I was basically in love with in my house – what on Earth was there to be nervous about?). It was weirding me out, so I asked him if anything was up.

He closed his eyes and shook his head. "Nope. Nothing at all."

If you can't look at the person when you talk, it's normally an indicator of lying. I learned that on Dateline a billion years ago. He wasn't a good liar. I went along with it anyway. "Okay." I unbuckled my seatbelt. "Just checking. Let's go bug my dad. He should be home by now."

"Sounds good." He got out of the car and walked behind me up to the door. I put my key in the lock, turned it over, opened the door, and was met with a wall of multi-colored balloons.

"SURPRISE!" A chorus of kazoos...er...kazooing "Happy Birthday" rang through the foyer. It caught me so off guard that I stepped backward and basically fell into Izzy. He caught me, laughing. I couldn't tell if I was laughing or crying as I looked around. Dad, Mimi, Jessie, and Miranda were there, smiles all around. I decided I was laughing with tears.

"MIMI! You stayed home from school today!" I kiddingly pushed her on the shoulder. "What were you doing?"

"Blowing up all of these balloons." She did her best anime girl pose. I could never keep a straight face when she did that – it always cracked me up. "I wanted it to be hell for you to pop them all."

"Bitch," I said, sticking my tongue out at her.

"Ho," she said back.

"Hey now," dad said sarcastically, "your father is present. Watch your motherfucking language."

"Uh huh, yeah."

He laughed. "You kids go have fun. I'll be in here," he pointed to the kitchen, "hanging out."

"Basement time!" Mimi shouted. She led the way down to our basement. It was blandly finished, complete with white walls, gray carpet, fake potted plants and a brown L-shaped comfy couch. There was a big screen TV down there where dad would watch his games. It was a nice little area, but I always got so cold when I went down there, and, as a consequence of being a bigger girl, I'm almost always on the warm side. Because of the drastic temperature change, dad went out and bought a whole bunch of those warm fuzzy velour blankets. There was a huge pile of them stacked in the corner next to the TV. We all made a bee-line to the stack, grabbed a blanket, and took our places on the couch.

Izzy took the seat next to me on my right, curling up in a brown blanket with orange and gray cats on it (hey, I never said they were attractive blankets). Mimi sat next to him. Jessie sat on my left side, and Miranda sat next to her. Jessie huddled in close to me...as did Izzy. My cheeks grew hot. There was definite arm contact.

'It's fucking freezing down here,' I thought as I tried to get my face to calm down, 'and you're warm. We're all cuddled together, anyway. Nothing to get loopy about.'

"American Girl" by Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers drifted down the stairs. I looked over at Mimi. Her face was being taken over by her smile.

"YOUR DAD IS COOKING."

"YES!" Jessie and Miranda said at the same time.

Izzy looked confused. "How do you know?"

"Dad always puts on Tom Petty when he cooks. It's something he's done since he was a teenager, I guess." I shrugged. "I don't know how it started, but he's done it since I could remember." A memory popped up in my brain. He and mom were baking a cake; he was working on the cake part, and she was working on the icing. They were both singing along to "Refugee", dad on lead and mom on backup, and were chasing each other around the kitchen with the beaters they were using. The walls of the kitchen were covered with cake batter and frosting. I was pretty sure there were a few drops left that were never cleaned up. I was going to have to check that later that night.

I smiled sadly. I tried not to think about mom too much. Honestly, I didn't remember much about her, which always made me very uncomfortable. I mean, she was my mom, I should remember everything, right? I know I was 7 when she died, but still. She was with me for 7 years. How could I forget?

Mimi reached over Izzy (to which he softly squealed in surprise, which made me feel all the feelings) and touched my arm lightly. I looked over at her. She knew. I smiled. She smiled. All was well.

* * *

Dad made me an epic cake, complete with chocolate frosting and attempted yellow roses (they looked more like yellow Hershey Kisses, but at least he tried). He wrote "Happy Birthday Darling Chloe" on it, and put a '1' and an '8' candle on top. Everyone sang "Happy Birthday" (including Izzy, who, come to find out, didn't have a bad voice). The girls split into an angelic 3 part harmony on the last line.

"You guys have been working on that, haven't you?" I asked before I blew out my candles.

They all nodded in unison. "For about a week," Jessie said, a huge smile on her face. I blew out the candles. There was a 'yay', and some clapping, and then dad massacred the cake for all of us.

"Present time!" Mimi said, her mouth full of chocolate cake. My dad really outdid himself.

"You guys didn't have to-"

"YES WE DID." They all said at the same time. Jessie and Mimi giggled. Something was up.

"What did you guys do?" I raised an eyebrow.

"This is going to be your most epic birthday EVER." Miranda shoved a large box toward me. "TAKE IT, TAKE IT, TAKE IT."

"It's from both of us," Jessie pointed back and forth between the two of them.

I took it from her, shaking it a bit. It made no noise, but it was rather heavy. "O...kay..." I ripped the silver paper off of it and opened up the cardboard box. Staring up at me were huge eyes that I knew all too well.

"Oh, my God," I whispered as I took each CD out of the box. They were all legitimate copies of Ayumi Hamasaki's CDs. Every single one of them, up to her most current. There were even a few of her remix albums thrown in there. "Guys...oh, my God, I can't even...oh, my God. Thank you. Thank you, thank you, thank you."

"You're so welcome," Jessie said. They were both beaming.

"Okay, okay, me and Koushiro's next," Mimi said, bouncing up and down. Izzy produced a small, rectangular box out of seemingly nowhere. It was tied up with a bow. It looked like some sort of jewelry box. I looked at him with question, and then undid the bow and opened the box.

Inside was a ticket. There was kanji all over it, but there were characters I recognized.

The ones that spelled out Hamasaki Ayumi.

I dropped the box on the floor and put my hands on my cheeks. This was a concert ticket for her New Year's countdown show. Since I had discovered her, I had wanted to see one of her concerts, but I really wanted to see a New Year's countdown concert.

One problem.

This concert was going to be in Japan.

I lived in America.

I looked at my dad, confused. He handed me a tan envelope. "Happy birthday, Chloe," he said with a glint in his eye. I took it with a shaking hand and opened it.

A round-trip plane ticket from New York to Tokyo.

I instantly started crying, which set Mimi off. She threw her arms around me and whispered "I told you you'd come with me one day," in my ear. "Tanjoubi omedeto, Chloe-san."

"Arigatou, Mimi-san," I said as we separated. I wiped the tears off of my cheeks. "Thank you, guys. I can't even...thank you. Thank you, thank you, thank you."

Miranda laughed. "I believe we've rendered Chloe speechless."

I nodded, knowing that I was just repeating myself and mumbling like a madwoman. "Yeah, you...you have...oh my...thank you."

My dad came over and hugged me. "You deserve it, honey," he whispered in my ear. "You deserve it."

****

A/N: Hope you enjoyed it! There will be more coming soon, I promise – plotting it all out as I type this. Just needed to let this one sit for a bit, I suppose.


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